City Council Meeting 5_13_24 Public Comment from Renee DimlerGood Evening Mr. Mayor and Council Members,
My husband and I attended your meeting tonight. This was the first city council meeting we have ever attended. It was quite the circus. It was very hard to listen to Ryan Hunter because
the comparisons made to the warming center permit were not compatible or realistic. It's easy to criticize something you know nothing about because you do not LIVE or WORK in the vicinity
of the Warming Center, and to take up so much time so you don't have to hear what your constituents actually want. This can be rectified with the next election. I waited in line to
speak, but after Tonya Horn went on for 20 minutes we finally grew tired and left, because we are working parents that have obligations and cannot stay for four-five hours being spoken
over. I think this was the whole point. Wear you down so you shut up and leave. I later watched the youtube video of the meeting, and heard Mayor Johnson address the floor and instruct
NEIGHBORS that actually LIVE in the vicinity to share their experience, and this allowed ONE PERSON to share her experience before these trained liberals cut back in line to share their
support of the Warming Center again. WE ARE SICK AND TIRED of being Ignored!!! THIS is how WE THE PEOPLE are treated. We left feeling more angry than when we arrived. Congratulations!
The truth is - IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME!!!! The warming center was funded mostly by Whitefish donors that didn't want a homeless shelter in their backyard. So we are getting the
short end of the stick in northwest Kalispell. We didn't ask to be overrun by criminals, drug addicts, and homeless people. We have had to completely modify our entire lives and routine
around the Warming Center!!! This is extremely disruptive, intrusive, and financially costly from the installation of security and cameras, purchasing self-defense classes for myself
and my children, purchasing THREE phone plans so my children can call 911 if they go to the park, which is now severely limited by time of day and location due to the influx of non-residents
loitering and creating a very uncomfortable and unsafe environment for our children. Limiting our children's outdoor activities, where they can play in our own yard, and teaching them
to be on high alert all the time about their surroundings, people in their vicinity, and how to protect themselves. It is exhausting and leaves us considering LEAVING this area after
spending YEARS (2011- present) improving our property, remodeling, and caring lovingly for our home, neighbors and neighborhood. We keep our doors locked 100% of the time. I work from
home and my children are homeschooled. We are home 99% of the time, behind locked and deadbolted doors with cameras and motion detectors surrounding our property. We are prisoners in
our home and check our perimeter before leaving our home.
We have caught people on camera trying to sneak toward our vehicles, get in our yard, or steal things from our yard. We find trash and cigarette butts in our flower gardens. We have
had people stand on the sidewalk just a handful of feet away and stare at us working in our yard, or try to rip plants out of the beds. We watch the homeless people hiking up and down
the street to and from the Center dragging shopping carts, strollers/wagons, backpacks, etc., and they come and go in droves.
Our neighbor caught people trying to get into his truck one night and casing his property, and another neighbor had someone break into his vehicle and steal a pistol. It's constant drama
and excitement of the wrong kind, and this leaves us feeling overwhelmed, unsafe, and very defensive of our property and family. We hear sirens constantly now when there was very little
police presence in our neighborhood just two-three years ago. We watch out the window and see all sorts of police activity. This is no longer a nice, middle class, family neighborhood.
It's just the hood.
Just a week ago, I was walking my dog with my 11 year old son, and was approached by a very drunk, aggressive native man that stood over six feet tall. He got in my face and was being
extremely inappropriate and suggestive. He was so close in my personal space that I could feel his breath on me. This was very hostile, intimidating, and unnerving. He was on his way
to the Warming Center. Can you imagine? A woman, her small dog, and her 11 year old son dealing with an intimidating drunk man on a busy street corner. THAT IS A WARMING CENTER ISSUE.
You see, logic (it's a form of thinking that people born before the 80's use) tells me that if the warming center was not on Meridian Rd, smack in the middle of my neighborhood, I would
not be running into all these homeless people trying to break into my property, stalking me on my walks, ruining our kids outside time, etc. This would NOT happen if this center was
not where it is!
Now with all that said, you may tell yourself that I am a heartless person without compassion and I must hate homeless people and I must be selfish. But this is the farthest thing from
the truth. We have worked my asses off for the life we have, and we are not going to be bullied or intimidated by the "local non-profit" that wants to force us to accept the unacceptable
behavior of their patrons!
I have been sober for 33 years. I understand addiction, suicide, trauma and loss. BUT, I do not have to tolerate drunken behavior, drug addicts, drug dealers, criminals, socialists,
and human traffickers in my backyard. I will NOT step back from confrontation. I WILL BE HEARD one way or another, and if the permit for the shelter goes off the table, I will personally
spearhead a group and hire an attorney and sue the city.
We want the shelter permit rescinded. A neighborhood full of houses, apartments, small businesses, is NOT the place for a LOW-BARRIER SHELTER. Do you wonder why the Samaritan House has
fewer calls and less pushback from its neighborhood? Because they have a protocol that doesn't involve drugs and alcohol. Do you know that 99% of law enforcement presence is because
drugs and alcohol are involved? Do you know that mentally ill people allowed to do drugs and alcohol are inherently more dangerous? Why in God's name would anyone think a low-barrier
shelter is a good thing? This center is "advertised" as a place for local people who lost their housing - so why is it necessary to make it a low-barrier shelter if these are working
people that lost their local housing? Because that isn't the TRUTH! That is a steaming pile of you know what they're feeding you! Grab a spoon and take a bite and tell me what it tastes
like!
I have lived 13 years in the same neighborhood. My son rode his skateboard and bike to the middle school everyday without an incident. We never saw people loitering in the fairgrounds,
or on our streets. I never worried about spending time in my gardens or felt like I had to be on high alert when I went out to move the sprinklers. I never once saw a person camped
out with their shopping cart of belongings hiding in the alcove of the church across the street or felt concerned about taking my trash to the dumpster in the alley. "Times are changing"....boy
are they ever! When you plant a low barrier homeless shelter in the middle of a residential neighborhood, you INVITE DRUG ADDICTS, ALCOHOLICS, MENTALLY ILL, AND HOMELESS PEOPLE INTO
THAT RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD.
To make ONE COMMUNITY AND ONE NEIGHBORHOOD BEAR THE BRUNT OF THIS ACTIVITY IS CRIMINAL, SHORT SIGHTED, AND BREEDS DISTRUST, ANGER AND RESENTMENT.
Renee Dimler
533 W. Wyoming St
Kalispell, MT 59901
406-212-5251 Cell/Work
reneesuz07@gmail.com <mailto:reneesuz07@gmail.com>