City Council Meeting 5/13/24 from Renee DimlerJudi Funk
From: Renee <reneesuz07@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 7:41 AM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL City Council Meeting 5/13/24
Good 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. l 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 Centerrrr 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 ourvehicles, 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
sidewalkjust 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, l 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@qmail.com