Flathead Warming Shelter Public Comment by Marshall TaylorAimee Brunckhorst
From: Marshall Taylor <marshalljhtaylor@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2024 11:00 AM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Flathead Warming Shelter.
Dear Mayor and City Council,
First, I would like to take this time to thank you for your service to our community, you have a thankless position that often
leaves you at the end of criticism. Like many you have heard from, I have attended many of the meetings regarding the
Flathead Warming Shelter, sitting silently in the crowd until the most recent meeting where I decided my voice needed to
be heard.
The initial meetings were very uncomfortable and disheartening to watch as countless people who live nowhere near the
neighborhood surrounding the Warming Shelter made the residents of the area feel as if we had done something wrong in
asking that our neighborhood be restored to what we have always known to be a safe and pleasant neighborhood.
Council members have also lamented the same rhetoric about the shelter having no impact on the area, making the
constituents they serve feel like they can no longer receive help from their elected officials. The people advocating for the
Warming Shelter are not subjected to the ensemble of people carrying bottles of booze (most often discarded in mine or
my neighbor's yard), screaming obscene gestures, lewd sexual acts being performed in public, and the general unsafe
feeling the entire neighborhood experiences. These are not one-off occurrences but a twice -daily routine that has resulted
in what feels like a part-time job keeping our homes safe and clean.
The shelter is intended to serve the residents of the Flathead Valley, not people traveling the train from Seattle, Portland,
or other areas. In a recent conversation with a Whitefish City Council member, he stated "We ship the train people to
Kalispell". This is a concerted effort made by those in Whitefish and other areas who do not want this behavior in their
backyard to kick the can down the road. Furthermore, members of the Kalispell city council are quoted saying "Nobody
wants that in their yard, nobody wants that" so why am I being asked to shoulder the burden of the failures to adhere to
the CUP by the Warming Shelter?
My family has lived on 5th Ave WN within 600 yards of the warming shelter for over 30 years now and has never
experienced this problem before the warming center was introduced into the neighborhood (yes, there has always been
homelessness in Kalispell but not this type of concentration in a residential neighborhood). We have known or know
almost all of our neighbors within the area, many of which have lived in the area for the same amount of time or longer
and who you have also heard from many times, pleading to please return our neighborhood to the safe haven we grew up
in. The warming shelter has promised to be a "good neighbor" but I would not say having to pick up your "neighbor's"
hypodermic needles, trash, booze bottles, or whatever is discarded in my yard before I can safely send my family outside
is a "good neighbor".
The neighbors in this area have engaged in many discussions (including hundreds of signatures gathered to petition the
removal of the CUP) about how we can return our neighborhood to the area we once loved. Our children and residents
have lost the parks, school playgrounds, and fairground fields that have been decimated by trash, human feces, and
aggressive transients loitering from the shelter. Our solution has been to install security cameras, teach our youth how to
identify aggressive behavior, and how to deploy pepper spray to defend themselves. As someone whose family has lived
here for three generations, I can assure you none of these were ever a concern while playing basketball at Trinity
Lutheran as a child.
I would also like to note that Meridian is not the only street encompassing the neighborhood around the warming shelter.
The neighborhood includes 7th, 6th, 5th, Wyoming, California, Washington, and Utah streets as this is the path from the
warming shelter to the city center used by their residents.
In closing, I propose that the people living in this area be allowed the democratic process of voting on this matter. I would
appreciate the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Flatau and the Flathead Warming Shelter on major issues we can work
together to resolve such as the Low Barrier status, adequate transportation away from the neighborhood, a form of
identification for those entering the shelter, and a plan to find a place to house those who they don't have room for.
Thank you,
Marshall Taylor
406-880-5374
mars hallihtaylora-gmail. com