Financially difficult and blighted by the homeless - 10/24/2020

I've lived here for 10 years and my view of the city has turned as we (barely) managed to buy a home, started a family, and the blight of homelessness has escalated out of control. When I moved here the transients were a handful of local street alcoholics, and mostly crusty punks who would roll through in the Summer months. This has taken a radical turn and West Broadway is a blighted neighborhood, overrun with dangerous meth addicts from out of state, drawn by the concentration of free services. The Western river trail system, frankly, is no longer safe after dark. I do believe we share a responsibility to help each other, but enabling a self-destructive lifestyle of addiction and violence is not help. Many of those drawn to the Poverello simply do not deserve the services. By offering a, "no strings attached" bed and meal, residents who are dangerous and prone to violence are not turned away, which forces the vulnerable who do need those services to move on. My wife deals with these people in a medical capacity and from a sample of 80 people who listed the Pov as their primary residence, 92% of them admitted to daily meth use. Whats more is nearly every person who said they were homeless but did not list the Pov as their primary address, mostly women, said they felt the Poverello was too dangerous to visit. The Pov has created an environment which appeals primarily to adult male meth addicts, many of whom traveled to Missoula from out of state after being kicked out of other shelters. Let's be clear about this - the Poverello is a free bed and meal, which simply serves to perpetuate homelessness and does nothing to solve the problems that created it. Then everyone is turned back onto the streets in the day to aimlessly wander municipal parks while they look for drugs. In my opinion the City of Missoula should start by forcing private ownership from the homeless shelter. Then they can transition to providing full time services to fewer people. The shelter should be a permanent residence which doesn't turn people back onto the streets, but focuses on providing supervised living and development of critical life skills through group programs. Less availability will require focusing on selecting Missoula residents who are legitimately mentally ill or otherwise wish to help themselves in good faith. God willing if we actually help people it might lead to personal independence, not just a roof over their head. We need to admit there are those who don't deserve help, and agree there is a difference between help and enabling. By removing the services which attracted the enabled to our public spaces, maybe we can focus on helping the homeless AND reverse course on the blight facing Missoula. Look, if you don't think there's a problem then you don't live on the West Side. I am just one person. Twice this Summer I found needles around the river beaches where my children and I used to play. I have found people sleeping in my garage, human feces in my alley. I looked out of my sleeping daughter's window to catch the gaze of a transient standing in my fenced back yard at 2AM. I have been assaulted TWICE trying to walk across the California st bridge at night, punched in the side of the head TWICE just minding my own business trying to bike across the bridge. My wife used to walk home from work until she was literally threatened with rape by a passerby on the sidewalk. This is a serious problem. The Poverello brought it here on an unprecedented scale when it opened the doors of its new facility 5 years ago and expanded services beyond what our city needed. It comes down to what we value more as a society, the illusion of empathy, or actually making a difference in peoples' lives.

[Comment on this Posting]

Fake people, - 6/21/2020

I lived here for 6 years, and it never got any easier to live, I'm a Native American, these people her look down on us, I have been put in jail for sitting in a parking lot, well I asked why, your making people nervous, with people that will smile in your face then make show your followed in a store, if you are any kind of minorities you will be looked as a drug addict or drunk, of you don't have a job as a doctor, cops here will find reason to stop you again if your a minoritie, these people are so fake and everyday these public people will do whatever it takes too make you move back to your home town

[Comment on this Posting]

Missoula - Beautiful & Poorly Run - 5/28/2020

I have lived in Missoula on and off for the last 30 years, but consistently for the last 12. I met my wife and had my kids here. My father and my wife's entire family is from here. It is a beautiful place to live and it is close to everything you could want to do outdoors. So why two stars? The city is run by people that view you as a piggy bank. If they can imagine it, they will tax you for it. They are actively lobbying for any kind of tax they can get passed (gas, resort, etc) Housing is beyond unaffordable unless you view apartment living with a mortgage payment as affordable. City policies are creating homelessness in droves, crime is climbing at absurd rates and the city even lists one of the "places to see" as the homeless shelter. I love Missoula, but I loathe what it has become and every year we move further from the ability to fix the damage. Out of state buyers have driven home prices out of the range of local residents. So if you are looking to move here from California or New York realize that you either need to pay that house off from the get go or be a CEO to afford the cost once you are here as housing costs do not match incomes here. And "raising the wage" doesn't magically make housing affordable. Companies here are not paying California rates. This is Montana. Missoula - beautiful beyond compare but being run into the ground by the current Democrat regime.

[Comment on this Posting]

Small Town Homeless Mecca - 5/23/2020

Missoula is an interesting place. If you are an activist focusing on the homeless, Missoula is probably the place for you as Missoula has made the city a very inviting place for the "homeless" population. We have a homeless shelter downtown and various vagrant camps along the Clark Fork River that runs through town. In the past year or so we paid the city to clean up the river shore in town, hauling away needles, garbage, waste and other detritus. City governance stated their purpose was to encourage city residents (not homeless) to use the beautiful river area to drive the homeless from its shores. It didn't accomplish that goal. In a matter of months the river area is once again populated by homeless and unusable by city residents. In response, the city said the non-homeless "homeful?" didn't use the land quickly enough so it was re-occupied. It has now surrendered its efforts to make the waterway livable for Missoulians. People and families concerned with their own safety avoid the area. If you are a homeowner on the Clark Fork river anywhere near town, and you don't want your view to be the garbage left on public property from abandoned transient camps, then you will have to clean away the camp with your labor and your funds. The city declines to help even though city residents pay the city to maintain municipal property. There is a permanent camp on the Clark Fork at the busiest intersection in town on Reserve Street adjacent to a popular shopping area. Up-ended shopping carts, piles of garbage, torn tarps and general filth provide a thoughtful view when stuck in traffic. The "M" is a popular trail up a mountain close to the university. A "homeless" and clothesless man recently attacked a woman walking her dog there and later the same day attacked two men hiking the hill who fortunately had a weapon and knifed him. Nearly each week, until I stopped taking the newspaper (which is generally a good paper) the front page of the paper featured the plight of the homeless and Missoula's responsibilities to do more. In the meantime people who own homes and pay $4,000-$6,000 per year in property taxes are left wondering whether they will be able to use the new library they paid for or whether it will be just more public property to be abused by the homeless. Those who bear the tax burden of paying for public properties are left wondering what kind of weapons they should take on their hikes above the University so they will survive an assault by a member of a favored group for whom we are expected to only have empathy and tolerance as they destroy our living environment. I would not consider attending University of Montana due to the proximity of filthy camps, transient violence and dead bodies to the university campus. It might be time for the city of Missoula to balance the demands it makes on less favored residents (homeowners, renters, students) to fund its favored homeless programs. In summary, despite its geographic beauty I would not move to Missoula. Property taxes are phenomenally high and the city prioritizes the "needs" of the homeless without consideration for the cost paid by the rest of the population - the "homeful" amongst us.

[Comment on this Posting]

Beauty and the city council - 2/9/2020

I've lived in Missoula for 12 years, moved from Michigan. I love the locals, some of the most friendly people aside from some snooty granolas. Missoula is freaking gorgeous but there are definite issues. There are some struggles with homeless and it's probably not going to get better because the rent is high and the wages are low. I'm talking $10-12/hr for a large majority of the population, and rent for anything decent starts around $750 for a 1 bedroom. This is only getting worse because the city council is doing their best to implement a TIF (tax increment financing) which is about to stick it to all the city's residents. Basically the tax payers are about to pay for all the new developments that are about to take place. The university also hasn't been bringing in the money either, enrollment has dropped. If you don't already have tons of money, Missoula really can't help you. God bless the locals and suck it city council (greedy bastards)!

[Comment on this Posting]

Transients, bad air quality, rising taxes/costs - 10/15/2019

The transient problem and panhandling here is out of control. The traffic is getting bad, especially for Montana. There exists a prevailing attitude of entitlement seen like nowhere else. Wages are lowball. Locals run this place; good luck if you weren't born in Montana. The air quality gets very bad during fire season (July - Sept) and again with the winter inversion (Nov - Feb). All the smog from 5 valleys lands here. Big jumps in property taxes and cost of water service.

[Comment on this Posting]

Missoula-Friendly and Beautiful Place - 9/16/2019

I have lived here for over 7 years now. My experience has been nothing but great! The locals are welcoming and some of the nicest people I have met. I grew up in the Midwest and it is very rare that someone is rude or disrespectful. I could not believe some of the reviews on here. I am not sure if we are living in the same town! The winters get colder but nothing compared to the midwest. That bitter cold hurts! Here is it drier which also comes with some downsides. The upside is the cold does not feel cold to me. I rarely get my winter jacket out. The roads do not get as clean as some would hope. I think this is because we are used to driving on slick roads and snow is not that big of a deal. I can only remember one snow day for the kids since I lived here. The outdoors is some of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen. I travel all over the US for my job and I rarely find a place that compares. I do know the locals do not want us to became a huge city but they are not rude to outsiders in my experience. The biggest downside is when we have fires. The smoke is awful but this is limited.

[Comment on this Posting]

Pure crap, all image - 8/6/2019

Don't be deceived by what people on here, or in the media tell you. This place is an absolute dump. It is only designed to reel-in transplants. The people in this city are as fake and dumb as they come. Small city, but very Democratic and more like the West Coast. No, I do not see this as a magical city. People are trying to make this place look fancy and good. Someone on here mentioned earlier that the people are mellow or in-between. No extremists - Which could not be any further from the truth. None of the people here really like each other. This is a pretentious city that tries to make itself look good on the outside, but lacks substance. Most people don't realize that Missoula is just another Democratic city for corrupt politicians to do experiments on human beings that they use as robots. Housing costs too much, and only the richest can afford these houses. They are very good-looking houses, but it's not really worth moving here to work. Not a good job market, not many good industries. Very feeble and sanctimonious city. Montana has good nature and scenery, but the people here in Missoula just do not cut it. This city is all just illusion and image. Missoulian's thoughts are their own thoughts. It looks good on photos and media, but when you finally arrive you realize this is another boring fatass 9 to 5 work city and with dull, passive-aggressive, pretentious, greedy awful people. The city of Missoula may be trying to make it work effortlessly (as a so-called "sophisticated, refined, paradise city") but this will probably never happen.

[Comment on this Posting]

Here’s what you need to know about Missoula - 4/26/2019

I’ve lived here most of my life. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not a snooty local who doesn’t like change. I’ve wanted Missoula to grow past its old 60k population of (white) rednecks and (very white) yuppies for ages. And it is. That is, for the most part, fantastic. If you’re considering a move to Missoula, now might be the best time (not to say I’d recommend). I won’t complain about the fact summer the last few years has been rechristened “construction”—those are just the growing pains of a small city getting bigger fast for the first time. There are more new and exciting restaurants, etc than ever, better infrastructure, greater diversity (by about 1%); all that. However, there are a few things you should know. On the off-chance you’re considering this place for its college, UM has become a burning trash heap and that’s not about to change. This being something of a college town, that ethos has infected the rest of the city. We’re also seeing the vibrant, historic Missoula—even the bits that could ostensibly be maintained, bettered, and flourish—demolished each year in favor of ugly “big city” homogeneity in architecture that doesn’t quite make sense for a place still populated by ~70k. Median income is too low to fill the cookie cutter houses infringing closer and closer on the town center, so open fields, mountainsides, etc that have been replaced with suburbia often sit empty. (This is helped along by the fact that even most transplants come here looking for somewhere like the U District to live, and locals aren’t about to retire from that (admittedly fantastic) area of Missoula life to suburbia.) Additionally, I’ll say that if you’re moving here from anywhere south of the OR/CO/MN/NY line, you will not be able to handle the winter. Not that we don’t want you here—despite what some may say, Missoula locals are pathetically welcoming of transplants. However, I’d say 9/10 people I know who’ve moved here in adulthood, especially to get away from this or that in Cali or the east coast) leave for southern climates after a year or two. I adore the winter here, but you must know that it is not all charming snow or even tolerable ice. Especially with recent climate change, please expect, yes, a couple months of drop dead gorgeous summer weather, followed by 6-8 months of utter darkness, sleet, and slush, with maybe one bright month or two of actual snow. Even though Missoula has been in the same spot since, well, it existed, the city still has no idea how to handle ice on city roads, so we get countless fatal crashes each winter, not to mention the guarantee that you’ll end up in at least a couple fender benders whether you’re the world’s best driver or not. As far as the people themselves... countless friends who have left look back on Missoula in horror at its toxicity. Everyone, especially those (you know, the yuppies) who moved here in the 70s/80s, will tell you nobody is nicer anywhere. I’m not one to make generalizations, but I am to this day shocked at how bitter, manipulative, apathetic or outright evil the population is. Especially those who have lived here a while and gotten a foothold in the community feel, particularly these days, so entitled to live in “desirable” Missoula that they are ruthless (and often in the gray area of the law), in personal and professional interactions. With Missoula somewhere between a small town and a city with a potential for growth, business/real estate monopolies that have been here for generations have evolved into something entitled and, frankly, terrifying in their disregard for the law, and that also goes for your average joe. On another note, if you are comfortable (or even eager to be) living somewhere where literally everyone knows everyone (and thus knows everything about everyone), you shouldn’t be. That may work in a charming small-town way elsewhere, but in Missoula it quickly becomes incredibly toxic. This review has gone on far too long, but I’ll just say this. I still believe Missoula and some of the surrounding area would be the perfect place to raise a family, but I wouldn’t advise moving here for anything but that for the next ten years at least. Missoula is a city going through its very uncomfortable teenage years in terms of growth, and until it stabilizes (i.e., perhaps grows into its smug title as Mini Portland), it’s a pretty dismal place to live for most.

[Comment on this Posting]

Locals trying their best to scare you away. - 3/21/2018

Haha, these reviews are hilarious. Missoula is a nice little college town. Yeah, it's no metropolis but you knew that. They (the locals) don't want it to get any bigger so many here are bashing it. Don't believe them. I've been there. Nice place, nice people, not as backwards as other areas in Montana. Don't get me wrong, it's not as progressive as Seattle or San Francisco, but then it's not as Conservative as you might expect either. Very livable with nice scenery. Montanan's aren't as awful as these reviews here would lead you to believe. I will say this though, when I told the guy there I was from Indianapolis, his reply was "Oh, you're from a big city" - which made me laugh because I wouldn't consider Indy a big city, but then I remembered Indy's population is more than the entire state of Montana's. Oh well. Nice place. I like it.

[Comment on this Posting]

Last Best Place - 2/19/2018

For a small city, Missoula is hard to beat. The location is drop-dead gorgeous. It's population is young and lively. Good restaurants thrive. While being a destination, it doesn't have the Disneyland vibe of other "vacation" spots like Bozeman, Whitefish and Livingston. A walk down Higgins Street on a Saturday morning in July is a joy... the Clark Fork churning with floaters, one of the best farmers markets anywhere, al fresco brunches, coffee shops and breweries everywhere. Downside: Cold, grey winters. Increasing wildfires in August and September. All in all, a terrific small town. Hard to find a better place to live.

[Comment on this Posting]

DO NOT LIVE HERE !!! - 7/23/2017

Extremely rude people !!! They make fun of people who are Overweight and disabled and elderly. If your not born and raised here your treated like CRAP !! Check out TIME magazine no one wants to raise a family in a city that was named the RAPE CAPITAL !!! This town is a puking joke.

[Comment on this Posting]

Becoming a mini-Portland - 5/2/2017

This used to be a fantastic place - and in surrounding landscape it still is, for the time being until City Planners get their way and build a subdivision in the hills... The city is surrounded by beautiful mountains that not only give incredible sunsets, but offer plenty of interesting canyon clouds and high elevation snow. The valley is much more narrow than the Flathead and Kalispell, allowing for plenty of recreation within either walking or biking distance. Downtown area is nice and great for walking [as long as you make sure turning drivers see you cross the street], with plenty of great bars and restaurants. You can get everywhere without a car- But anymore you take your life in your hands to do so. I've been since Fall of 2008, and have watched the overall quality drop off a cliff. An influx of terrible people, even more terrible drivers [more on that later...], and city developers that are putting high-end apartments on every available plot, blocking any mountain views we once had from the middle of the town, and are designing them all after modern Seattle/Portland styles. They all look the same and do not fit the traditional architecture of the town at all. What's worse is that they start at $795 for a studio! Really?? In a College town with employers that either give no hours or minimum wages, that's absurdly high. Good luck trying to rent a house without 4 other people - or renting at all! House rentals are virtually non-existent. And if you can buy, watch out! Because it's a College town, everyone wants top dollar for everything. Cute but dated cottage houses for $175K; million dollar homes or sardine apartment complexes clogging the hills; and a dilapidated Victorian mansion out in Bonner that they still wanted $50K for. There was literally a warning about touring the property due to being structurally unsound. There was a listing in west Missoula for a "fixer upper" where the owner wanted $1250 rent, acknowledged that most Missoula renters are single parents or low-paid college students, and yet still required 3x rent as your income! Define "extortion"... The University of Montana started off as a beautiful, highly regarded institution. A trove of NW education nestled in a small forest. Now it's a stripped-down excuse for the athletic complex to pay for their unnecessary expansion. The grounds crews take down massive, perfectly healthy trees in the dead of night (or weekend) and replace them with geometrically pleasing saplings. My friend and I were literally walking to the gym one night and went 'wait, wasn't there a giant tree there?' It was super stealthy, but ruins the woodsy feel the campus one had. Programs of any interest have been hacked and slashed in order to pay for the Presidents' self-imposes bonuses; leaving only Biology, Phrama, and of course, the ever-expanding Business School. Observing driving habits and behavior here, I can only conclude that this place was plucked out of some sort of Bizzaro World. If one person makes a turn into traffic from a stop sign, everyone behind them can turn; Red Lights mean "only 3 more"; the bigger the vehicle, the more right of way; no one knows how to read traffic signs or road markings; everyone drives in the middle of the road, wrong side of the parking lot, and parks how they want; Stop Signs are a bureaucratic nuisance and people take it as a personal insult if you actually have to 100% stop your car. *breath* Sigh. That's not even getting to the true psycho and/or sociopaths here. But I'll leave that for you to discover... Bikes don't make things any better. They want to be cars, but they run red lights, meander all over the road, and think they can just ride across the crosswalk in front of green light traffic. The majority of this town is out for themselves, and Lord have mercy if you try to correct their behavior. Suffice to say, I'm ready to leave. Campus life was a great experience, but actually living here is awful. I've been suggested to that Bellingham, WA would be a good alternative - but after reading reviews, it's essentially Missoula with state tax.

[Comment on this Posting]

gray clouds - 3/3/2016

Missoula Montana is in the northwest, more specifically the upper rocky mountain area. it is situated in a valley that joins three rivers. it is just has too many days that are cloudy or overcast. good for skin cancer but bad for vitamin D. as global warming increases this area also gets quite smoky during the forest fire season (June-September) which ironically is the best time of the year for the area (my opinion). I really like the sperlings categories as my wife and I are in our 60s and looking for a place to move to for the next 20-30 years... hope this helps your site.

[Comment on this Posting]

Missoula mt sex offenders - 11/7/2015

Missoula mt is not where you want to raise your children everyday there are rapes and child crimes here.we have more sex offenders here in one neighborhood than most places have in there whole cities. Beautiful place in the summer. Just scary when it comes to your children or wife's safety.

[Comment on this Posting]

missoula - 1/23/2015

Nice college town, people are friendly, cost of living is on the higher side in comparison to the job market.

[Comment on this Posting]

A white left wing city with an epidemic of rape, d - 5/26/2014

Justice Department investigating 80 Missoula rapes; county attorney blasts feds.. this says enough but i will expand on one of the worst cities I ever lived in. I call it whitelandia. Although University of Montana and city officials pledged their support, Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg denounced that action as an overreach by “the heavy hand of the federal government,” and insisted that his office has done nothing wrong. Why, Nothing wrong? maybe because rape like drunk driving is more of a sport than a crime in Missoula, Montana a city full of people that are full of themselves. The federal review follows a University of Montana investigation that began in December with allegations that two students were gang-raped, possibly after being drugged, by several male students. UM hired former Montana Supreme Court Justice Diane Barz to look into the matter. Her investigation grew to include nine alleged sexual assaults from September 2010 through December, and concluded that “the UM has a problem of sexual assault on and off campus.” Two more alleged assaults later were added to the list. 80 rape reports in 3 years: Montana city, campus complaints prompt Justice Department probe. even the city council member a left wing liberal was caught driving intoxicated and was re-elected and faced no punishment. Other residents have up to, over 10 duis....You can look it up!

[Comment on this Posting]

Nice Place - 5/10/2013

Nice Place to live housing expensive

[Comment on this Posting]

General Quality of Life - 6/19/2012

Missoula is a good place to live, given that it is somewhat isolated from big cities and the services that big cities can offer.

[Comment on this Posting]

Wages - 3/13/2012

Excellent

[Comment on this Posting]