07/22/2024
“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to mhudson@montanafreepress.org.
‘People are irate’ over sudden screen door removal
There was a small notice in the summer newsletter that arrived at the start of June. It said maintenance workers would be removing all screen doors from Great Falls Housing Authority homes due to the high cost of maintenance and repair.
Days later, some residents found letters taped to their doors announcing when their screen doors would be taken. “This also is not open for discussion,” the letter said.
Over the past month, some residents of Great Falls public housing worked to make sure the issue would be open for discussion. There have been signature drives and comments at Great Falls Housing Authority board meetings. Residents want to keep their screen doors.
“I’m losing extra security. The natural light. Airflow,” said Marquita Ogawa, who lives off 15th Street in the Parkdale neighborhood.
Ogawa still has her screen door. She said she’s offered to pay to keep the door in place, but it hasn’t been presented as a choice. The housing authority has removed some, but not all, of the doors around Parkdale housing. The uproar led to a pause in removal while the housing authority mulls its options.
Just down the street from Ogawa, workers removed Alan Miller’s screen door in early June shortly after he paid $280 for repairs on it. He said the door helps to provide a breeze for those with or without air conditioning.
“If you run your electricity over your allotment, you get an additional charge,” he said.
Even though the sound of screen doors banging is a sign of summer, Miller is thinking about winter, when his west-facing door gets a foot or two of snow piled up. The screen door provided a barrier that won’t be there anymore.
Miller and Ogawa both showed up to the housing authority board meeting on July 18 to voice their concerns. The housing authority had visitors wait in the lobby during the meeting until it was time for public comment when they were ushered back into a conference room to voice their opinion. Afterward, a police officer led them out while the board continued its meeting.
Chris Tinker, deputy director of the Great Falls Housing Authority, said that management decided to remove the doors because repairs and replacements were taking up a significant amount of time.
“I get their frustrations. We completely understand,” Tinker said. “But, just as a business and the maintenance side, it was huge.”
With a short-staffed maintenance team trying to keep up with their work, Tinker said the housing authority didn’t want to get caught with a large backlog of work, particularly during an inspection from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The federal agency subsidizes public housing.
After residents started speaking out, Tinker said housing authority management brought the issue to the housing authority board. And the removals are on pause until the board can help identify a solution.
Ogawa, a former housing authority board member herself, said that the swiftness of the announcement and the door removals that followed left residents powerless.
“People are irate,” she said. “If they come to take my screen door, I’m blocking it.”
In Case You Missed It
The Ivy at Great Falls, the state’s largest nursing home, is moving all residents to other facilities and plans to close in August.
The home, which is run by a national for-profit chain, lost its eligibility to participate in Medicare and Medicaid because the facility “failed to attain substantial compliance with certain Medicare and Medicaid participation requirements,” according to a notice from federal regulators on July 9.
The Ivy’s operating license was suspended, though it has a provisional license during the transition, according to a Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services spokesperson.
For years, The Ivy has been cited for serious quality issues and has accumulated more than $235,000 in fines from violations. They include lapses in patient care, nutrition issues and unsafe building conditions.
The Ivy at Great Falls is one of dozens of nursing homes owned by Simcha Hyman and Naftali Zanziper, who run an investment firm called Portopiccolo Group. The firm has been highlighted in national reports about quality issues that occurred after it acquired elder care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full story from Montana Free Press here.
Photo Op
This vendor will be joined by a long row of food options by the start of the 2024 Montana State Fair. Setup activity will pick up this week leading up to the official start on Friday, July 26. Long-range forecasts suggest lots of hot and sunny weather for this year’s fair. The fair runs through August 3.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to mhudson@montanafreepress.org.
Verbatim
“I directly blame the Montana Legislature for the property tax problem. And it’s strangling local governments.”
—Great Falls City Commissioner Shannon Wilson explaining her lone vote against the intent to levy additional property taxes for the 2025 city budget. She said state legislators should have passed measures to ease the property tax impact following sharp rises in property values in recent years.
Public Notice
Last week, the Great Falls City Commission scheduled public hearings for new special assessments as part of the 2025 budgeting process. August 20 is the date set for public hearings for the Boulevard District, Parks District, Special Improvement Lighting District, Portage Meadows Maintenance District and the Street Maintenance District.
More information can be found in the July 16 commission agenda packet.
