Thursday, December 16, 2021
Weinberger released a 10-point plan to open areas of the city to builders. The goal is to roughly double the rate of development to enable construction of 1,250 more housing units by 2027.
“Every neighborhood in the city has the potential to welcome many more households than they do today, while becoming even stronger and more appealing places to live than they are today,” Weinberger said at a press conference outside City Hall.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , City of Burlington , Champlain Housing Trust , Russ Scully , South End , Housing , Housing Development , Affordable Housing , Housing Shortage , Joe Magee , Sears Lane Encampment , Trinity Campus , UVM Student Housing , Web Only , Image
On Wednesday, Gene and Lilly Devlin completed their purchase of the property, which occupies 1,000 acres on Forest Lake and includes 19 shoreline cottages, a lodge and a clubhouse.
The Cornwall couple, who have had a 49 percent ownership share of the camp since 2018, don't have immediate plans to make changes to the 128-year-old property.
“We do have plans to do some capital improvements, of course, but nothing we want to announce just yet,” said Gene.
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Frog Hollow is hiring Montpelier lawyer Denise Bailey to investigate claims of discrimination made by a former assistant manager of the gallery. The shop on the Church Street Marketplace exhibits and sells the work of Vermont artisans and craftspeople.
Misoo Bang, an artist from South Burlington, posted on social media this week allegations of “multiple incidents of discrimination” against her by a Frog Hollow supervisor. Bang, 41, also described those incidents to Seven Days, saying they occurred during the three years she worked there. She resigned in March.
Tags: Frog Hollow , Misoo Bang , artist , discrimination , investigation , Web Only , Image
The panel also agreed to a policy that would give employees the choice of showing a vaccination card or getting regular COVID-19 tests.
Tags: Joint Rules Committee , legislative session , pandemic , Web Only , Image
Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) announced the push to end so-called “qualified immunity” for law enforcement officers during a press conference Wednesday. He was joined by a coalition of supporters from the ACLU of Vermont; local NAACP chapters; the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank; Ben & Jerry’s cofounders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield; and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership.
The bill, modeled after one Colorado passed in 2020, would allow victims of police misconduct to sue in state court and eliminate a key barrier that often prevents the victims from recovering damages.
“I believe firmly that good law enforcement depends on community trust,” Sears said. “And this reform is an important step towards building that trust in our community.”
Tags: Qualified Immunity , Police Misconduct , Richard Sears , Dick Sears , Becca Balint , Kesha Ram Hinsdale , Phil Baruth , ACLU of Vermont , Rutland NAACP , Mia Schultz , Ben Cohen , Jerry Greenfield , Law Enforcement Action Partnership , Vermont League of Cities & Towns , City of Burlington , Jason Bellavance , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
At a meeting Tuesday night, school commissioners agreed to pay $910,000 to three firms that submitted a joint bid to provide a conceptual design and cost estimate for a new high school and technical center on Institute Road. The work is an important step, as the district hopes to put a bond to pay for the project on the ballot in November 2022.
If voters approve a bond of an estimated $125 million, the district would owe the three firms — Freeman, French, Freeman; Colin Lindberg & Associates; and Drummey Rosane Anderson — an additional $5.7 million. That fee, which is based on a percentage of the bond, covers costs for "basic design services such as architectural, structural, [mechanical, electrical and plumbing], landscape and civil engineering," according to a memo from the district's real estate advisors.
Tags: Burlington High School , PCBs , Tom Flanagan , renovation , Web Only , Image
“Our newspapers have not been getting into the hands of our motor route carriers on time,” editor Steve Pappas wrote on November 29 to Times Argus readers, explaining the problems. A similar editorial ran in the Rutland Herald. “Certain inserts have not been in the papers, or delayed beyond their usefulness, which is unacceptable to us.”
Pappas works for Sample News Group, the Pennsylvania-based parent of the Times Argus, Rutland Herald, and the Vermont Journal in Ludlow. He’s asking readers to be patient while the printer, Upper Valley Press in Haverhill, N.H., finds a way around the supply chain and worker shortage crises that are delaying production.
Meanwhile, Pappas has found another printer to produce some of the company's papers, and he’s contemplating a wholesale move to another press. However, no Vermont companies do the kind of printing he needs, and Pappas said suitable ones in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Québec tend to have their hands full.
Tags: printer , newspapers , Rutland Herald , Times Argus , Upper Valley Press , Quebecor , Web Only , Image
The haul capped off a busy first day on the trail for Balint and signaled the race to replace U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) may be a fierce one.
“This was an absolute groundswell for Becca,” said Julia Barnes, a campaign adviser and former head of the Vermont Democratic Party.
Lt. Governor Molly Gray, an assistant attorney general who once worked for Welch, launched her campaign last week. She reported raising $50,000 in the first day and $111,000 during the first week.
The first two candidates in the race are women, a significant development as Vermont is the only state to have never elected, or appointed, a woman to serve in Congress. Balint would also be the first openly gay Vermonter elected to serve in Washington, D.C.
Tags: Becca Balint , Molly Gray , Peter Welch , Web Only , Image
Danone announced in October that it would cut ties with 28 Vermont organic farmers in August 2022, leaving them with nowhere to sell their milk. The decision included 89 farms in the Northeast that were under contract with Horizon, the organic label owned by Danone.
Under the new agreement, which was confirmed by the office of U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), the farmers will receive a six-month optional extension of their contracts, to February 2023, and will also get a small boost in payments for the last six months of the contract.
Tags: Horizon , organic dairy , Peter Welch , Web Only , Image
Last Friday morning, bucket loaders and armed police arrived at the South End site and forced out six remaining campers, weeks after the city had ordered it vacated.
Monday night, several people decried the move during the meeting's public forum. Progressive councilors and Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, traded barbs over the city's handling of the encampment's closure altogether.
Councilor Joe Magee (P-Ward 3), who was at the site during the clear-out, said he's ashamed to be part of a governing body "that has failed to take action to protect the most vulnerable members of our community."
Last week's action demonstrated that "we aren't serious about pursuing harm reduction or trauma-informed practice," Magee said.
Tags: Burlington , Burlington City Council , charter change , Town Meeting Day , prostitution , pupil weighting , Sears Lane , homelessness , Web Only , Image