I have to give Missoula’s Mayor, Andrea Davis, credit:  she DID seem curious about my Lego Meth Lab, but I can say that about MOST of the people I’ve interacted with on the streets of Missoula.  What distinguishes Mayor Davis’ appreciation for my creativity is the cultural transformation this elected official is now championing thanks to the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.  Let’s take a look at this initiative and how it’s being reported in local media.

Standing beside the Mayor on that fortuitous Friday morning was a very non-plussed Ellen Buchanan, who I assume was waiting eagerly for the crosswalk light to change.  Ellen, the Director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, was flanked by Dale Bickell, Missoula’s Chief Administrative Officer.  What a glorious trifecta of influence to run across while promoting my vision of better drugs/better outcomes along the riverfront.

Later that same Friday I read about the most recent insights Mayor Davis apparently gleaned from her Harvard training in a Missoulian article that described the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative as “a year-long program that trains top city leaders to address broad problems”.  After touting the global range of geographical regions represented by this initiative, the article continues by stating that the program “allows for mayors to problem-solve one local issue over the next several months”.  And the likely issue our Mayor will be selecting?  Affordable housing, of course!

The idea of changing culture is stated boldly in the Missoulian headline, which reads Missoula Mayor seeks to develop culture of ‘curiosity’, but, despite this bold assertion, the opening of the article makes it a little less clear to what degree changing Missoula’s culture is the actual goal.  Is this an example of the Missoulian using click bait to lure readers to their content?  Here’s how the article begins:

How cities should inspire their citizens and lead with “curiosity” was Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis’ main takeaway from her international meeting this week with local government leaders.  

That trip, however, is just the start.

Missoula mayor seeks to develop culture of ‘curiosity’. Missoulian. By Griffen Smith. July 19, 2024.

When you continue reading the article, like I did, the REAL goal is clearly stated, but you have to be SAVVY in addition to curious in order to understand what’s going on here.  Curiosity is just the branding, the real goal is emphasized in the following quote:

Davis told members of the local media on Friday that she spent the week focused on the similarities that face cities around the world, how mayors can shape the public narrative and how data can best be used to make government more efficient.

Yep, the goal is to SHAPE PUBLIC NARRATIVES, and this article actually exemplifies how that happens, with the newspaper of local record putting the Mayor’s marketing pitch in the headline while burying the real goal in the content fewer and fewer citizens pay actual money to read.

A recent decision by the Missoulian’s new editor, Steve Kiggins, to selectively REMOVE the digital paywall on a critical news story about a local fire provided a stark reminder that the digital paywall exists, which means, for a citizen curious about what’s happening in their local community, there’s an out-of-pocket cost for satisfying that curiosity.  Here’s the rationale from Kiggins about this decision:

What’s important when lives and property are at risk is reliable information from a trusted source, gathered by professionally trained journalists who are fiercely focused (and especially so in high stakes situations) to keep you in the know.  That timely and accurate reporting is often invaluable.

Which is why, sometime around 3 in the afternoon on Thursday, we dropped the paywall on one of our stories about the Horse Gulch fire that included breaking updates, weather details and other critical information for the public good.  Our subsequent stories on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as the human-caused fire surpassed 20 square miles were also available for subscribers and non-subscribers alike.

Isn’t this SO generous of a paid mouthpiece for Lee Enterprises, the owner of the Missoulian, the Ravalli Republic, the Billings Gazette, the Independent Record, and the Montana Standard?

After those waves of gratitude subside, consider this post I wrote in December of 2021 about the provenance of Missoula’s elitism, because sometimes a curious citizen takes that curiosity and combines it with insider information from being a once-valued non-profit rockstar in order to show that a COUNTER narrative exists, and it doesn’t take a trip to Harvard to learn how to tell it.

The most recent and, I’d say, AMAZING result of what my curiosity produces is the definition of a term that didn’t exist, as far as I know, before being uttered in the wee hours of a City Council meeting by the director of Parks and Rec, Donna Gaukler.  For readers of Western Montana News, you got to see the incredible definition of NEEDLE TRAP before anyone else, and it’s a definition I continue to tell people about.  If you need a reminder, here it is:

Though I lack the amplification to balance the narratives that waft from legacy media platforms, like a Lee Enterprise brand, I benefit from the fact that I root my counter narratives in something called REALITY, which alleviates all the work to SHAPE what I’m telling my readers.  I just walk beyond the KEEP OUT signage, take some pictures, then publish my findings.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming journalistic objectivity.  Instead, what I’m offering is a genuine exposure of how narrative control works, who is doing it, who benefits, and why it’s worth the risks I’ve taken to pull back the curtain.

The bridge with the tarp, pictured above, is a great example, considering I raised the alarm about its creation with Tax Increment Financing, and it’s predictable negative impact on the West Broadway Island, years ago.
Have I been rewarded for my curiosity?  Ha, quite the opposite!  But this is the path my counter narrative has taken me on, and even if I had the chance to go back and change it, I wouldn’t.

Thanks for reading!