Thursday, July 15, 2021
Other institutions reported big numbers, too: Champlain College saw an 83 percent increase, while Middlebury College and Vermont Law School each saw a bump of 30 percent.
Most colleges are reopening this fall with fewer health restrictions, though many are requiring students to be vaccinated.
Another added boost: UVM and Middlebury, like other colleges around the country, dropped the requirement that students submit standardized test scores. That decision “all but guaranteed a surge in applications from students who otherwise wouldn’t have applied,” Eric Hoover wrote of the national trend in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Institutions of higher education usually don’t report the size of the class until a few weeks after the fall semester has started, but UVM is confident it will be a record year.
“We expect it to be the largest, best-prepared and most geographically diverse class,” said Enrique Corredera, UVM’s director of news and public affairs.
UVM received a record-high 25,500 applications in 2021, Corredera said — a 38 percent increase over 2020 and a 32 percent increase over 2019. The class that entered UVM in 2017 was the largest so far, with 2,642 students. That's slightly more than the number that entered in 2019.
Corredera said the "yield rate" for accepted students, or the proportion of accepted students who choose to attend UVM, appears so far to be higher than usual.
Tags: Vermont , college , university , UVM , University of Vermont , Bennington College , Saint Michael's College , Champlain College , Middlebury College , vaccination , pandemic , enrollment , Web Only , Image
Redstone has dropped its lawsuit against the City of Burlington and has also agreed to drop its lawsuits against the beleaguered CityPlace Burlington project as part of a global settlement between the parties.
The city also agreed to provide Redstone with up to 200 parking spaces in city-owned garages, at the city’s prevailing rate, for at least five years. The settlement is the result of two mediation sessions between the city, CityPlace team and Redstone.
“I initiated and led this mediation because it was clear that Redstone and the developers of CityPlace were on a path of serious and deepening disagreement that threatened to delay or terminate the long-anticipated, transformative downtown project,” Mayor Miro Weinberger said in a statement Friday. “I am grateful that the two sides set aside their differences and worked hard to get to this agreement that will do so much good for the community.”
The agreement still must be approved by both the Burlington City Council and, because TIF funds are involved, the Vermont Economic Progress Council.
Once final, the agreement will resolve Redstone's four legal challenges against the project, the first of which was filed last summer. That civil suit claimed that the 2018 teardown of the former mall damaged 100 Bank Street, and that Redstone had to "accept less in rent than it otherwise would" because of the gaping pit left behind.
In May, Redstone appealed CityPlace's zoning permit to the Vermont Superior Court's Environmental Division, claiming that the developers failed to analyze the project's impact on traffic and stormwater. Redstone also argued that the city should have reviewed the project under former zoning regulations that would have required additional parking spaces.
In June, Redstone ramped up its opposition with two additional lawsuits, including one in U.S. District Court, that named the CityPlace team, city planning staff and members of the volunteer Development Review Board. Redstone argued that the project permit violated its property rights by allowing Pine Street to be rebuilt underneath its Bank Street building.
Tags: CityPlace Burlington , Don Sinex , Dave Farrington , Al Senecal , Scott Ireland , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Burlington , development , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
“Low-wage workers struggled in the pre-pandemic status quo and will continue to struggle unless serious investments are made in our housing safety net infrastructure,” the coalition said in its 2021 Out of Reach Report, released Wednesday.
“An affordable rental home is out of reach for millions of low-wage workers and other low-income families.”
Housing reform has been a top priority for state lawmakers for several years. This year, the Legislature passed a bill, S.79, created by a landlords’ group, affordable housing advocates, and others to address some of the problems behind the statewide housing shortage.
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
An anonymous person has accused Burlington City Councilor Jack Hanson (P-East District) of sexual assault stemming from a night in 2017 while both worked for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
Hanson, who was not on the council at the time, denied the allegations. He published an account of the evening in question on Facebook on Monday evening.
Shortly afterward, at the council’s first in-person meeting since March 2020, two people alluded to the accusations during public comment. Some people in the audience held signs that read, “Abolish Vt Prog Men,” “Abolish VPIRG,” and “Believe Survivors.”
“We’re here because we want to hold a city councilor, in particular, accountable for his actions,” said a woman who later declined to provide her name to Seven Days. “When you do harm, it comes at your doorstep — or it comes to city hall.”
“Jack Hanson has trampled all over the work of Black femmes in our community,” said Will Keeton, who sat next to the woman. “We’re really done with the political games to protect the reputations of politicians,” he added.
“Whose side are you on?” the woman said. “Don’t be silent. You have the name, so do something about it.”
Tags: Jack Hanson , Burlington , City Council , sexual assault , allegations , VPIRG , Web Only , Image
Monday, July 12, 2021
The 12 councilors and Mayor Miro Weinberger met in the auditorium at Burlington City Hall, the first in-person meeting of the body since March 2020.
Introduced by Councilor Perri Freeman (P-Central District), the resolution asks the council's Charter Change Committee to examine a section that empowers the council "to restrain and suppress houses of ill fame and disorderly houses, and to punish common prostitutes and persons consorting therewith."
The committee will consider a possible repeal of the section, along with possible amendments to protect sex workers, including decriminalization.
The committee is expected to report back to the full council with a recommendation by October 25.
Tags: Burlington , sex work , prostitution , Web Only , Image
Hallquist will be the first executive director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, a new entity created by lawmakers to coordinate and accelerate the rollout of high-speed internet services to the 23 percent of Vermont households that lack it.
A veteran of the electric utility industry, Hallquist ran against Scott in 2018. She made history as the first transgender major party gubernatorial candidate in the country. She won just 40 percent of the vote to Scott’s 55 percent.
Hallquist made broadband a major platform in her campaign. She argued that her experience as CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative positioned her well to help expand the service. She currently works for two communications union districts rolling out broadband in Lamoille County and the Northeast Kingdom.
In a press release, Scott framed broadband as an economic equity issue and praised Hallquist for her years of work advancing the issue.
“I cannot think of a better person to lead this important effort than Christine,” Scott said. “Her experience as a cooperative executive and most recent experience with two CUDs as well as her long-standing commitment to expanding broadband in Vermont will be valuable to this work.”
Communications union districts are a type of municipal entity designed to bridge the digital divide in the state. There are now nine such districts, which can build broadband infrastructure themselves or work with private internet providers to expand service. They cover more than 200 towns and are managed mostly by volunteer boards.
The five-member Vermont Community Broadband Board was formed to help these fledgling districts design, fund and manage the rollout of broadband networks. Future state grants will flow almost exclusively through such districts. Board members have yet to be appointed.
Hallquist compares the challenge of expanding broadband to the rural electrification effort of the 1930s and 1940s that gave birth to the electric co-op that she headed from 2005 to 2018.
In an interview Monday, Hallquist said she was honored to be appointed and learned she'd been selected during a “gracious” call from Scott last week. She said she’s been impressed with Scott’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and told him so.
"I think he did a better job than I could have done,” Hallquist said.
Hallquist will work in the Department of Public Service. Her first order of business will be to get the five board members appointed and ready for the board’s first meeting on August 9, she said.
The state has set aside $150 million for broadband expansion, and Hallquist will be largely responsible for helping the board direct those dollars to fiber-optic projects serving all residents, she said.
“I’m very excited and looking to get to work helping CUDs maximize the value of those grant funds,” Hallquist said.
Tags: Christin Hallquist , Phil Scott , broadband , Web Only , Image
All public beaches in Burlington have been closed because of an extensive cyanobacteria bloom in Lake Champlain.
The algal blooms — which look like pea soup or spilled paint on the water's surface — were first spotted at 11:15 a.m. on Monday at Blanchard Beach and the Cove at Oakledge Park during a visual inspection by staff, said Deryk Roach, Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront's parks and central facilities superintendent. Minutes later, a staff member identified a bloom at North Beach. Before noon, Texaco Beach and Leddy Beach were closed because of the algae as well.
Tags: cyanobacteria , blue-green algae , Lake Champlain , North Beach , Leddy Beach , Oakledge Park , Web Only , Image
Sunday, July 11, 2021
Several flights were delayed out of Burlington International Airport on Sunday because some airlines couldn't obtain fuel due to supply problems.
Airlines generally purchase fuel from Albany, N.Y., that is stored in a tank farm at BTV owned by Heritage Aviation. The company then delivers the fuel to planes on the tarmac, according to Heritage CEO Matt Collins. The Albany facility is supplied via Hudson River barges; Collins was told a barge was late. "Obviously we can't deliver what we don't have," Collins said.
Fuel ran low on Saturday, he said.
"We've tried to cover the airlines the best we could with our own retail fuel," he added. "We're at a position now where ... I don't really have much of anything to sell. I can't even front the airlines any more fuel." Collins said he had a small reserve that could cover any emergency medical flights.
Tags: Burlington International Airport , Heritage Aviation , jet fuel , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 9, 2021
The business and its 90 employees will stay in Londonderry, said Domenic Mangano, who founded the Cottage Shop in 1995. The purchaser is Bill Silverstein, owner of WHS Homes, which produces homes under an array of brands.
Mangano declined to say how much he sold the company for. But he said the employees probably won’t see much difference in the work they are doing. They were told of the impending sale two weeks ago, said one employee who asked that his name not be used in the story.
Tags: Jamaica Cottage Shop , Domenic Mangano , WHS Homes , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Burlington International Airport aviation director Gene Richards is on administrative leave pending an investigation, Burlington city officials confirmed Tuesday.
The city's human resources office received a complaint against Richards and began investigating "immediately," a city spokesperson said in a brief email response to an inquiry by Seven Days. He was placed on paid leave June 30.
The city would not provide any information about the nature of the investigation until it concludes, said Samantha Sheehan, a spokesperson for Mayor Miro Weinberger. Richards did not return several requests for comment. A bounce-back message from his government email address said he would be out of office without access to phone or email from July 1 to July 6.
City leaders had not told members of the Burlington City Council or the Burlington Airport Commission of the ongoing investigation. Reached Tuesday afternoon, commission chair Jeff Munger said he learned of it by reading Seven Days.
Commissioner Helen Riehle, who represents South Burlington, said she would have expected the city to alert the advisory board if the director was on administrative leave, especially “if it's been a whole week.” Riehle said she “can't even guess” what the complaint might be about.
“Generally speaking, I think he's a very good administrator,” she said.
Burlington City Council President Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) said he heard of the complaint on Monday night from someone unconnected to the Weinberger administration. Tracy called the city’s Human Resources director, Kerin Durfee, on Tuesday morning and asked that she inform the rest of the council. Durfee subsequently sent a “very general” email to councilors on Tuesday afternoon, Tracy said.
Tracy criticized Weinberger for not sharing the news with councilors until prompted. He likened the situation to when the mayor chose not to tell councilors in summer 2019 that former police chief Brandon del Pozo had been placed on administrative leave for anonymously trolling a department critic on Twitter. Only his subsequent medical leave was publicized.
“The lesson I took from that was that we need to inform the council, to make sure that we all know,” Tracy said, adding that councilors should know “whenever a department head is placed on administrative leave.”
Sheehan said Tracy's criticism was "way off base." The mayor acted swiftly, she said, and councilors were notified "long before any potential Council action is required, or even anticipated." The administration will brief councilors on the investigation at the next city council meeting in executive session, she said.
Weinberger appointed Richards interim director in 2012. He became the permanent director the following year upon approval by the city council.
In addition to his role at the airport, Richards is a longtime landlord and CEO of Spruce Mortgage.
Deputy director of aviation Nic Longo is serving as acting director of the airport.
Courtney Lamdin contributed reporting.
Tags: Gene Richards , BTV , Burlington International Airport , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Web Only , Image