Wednesday, March 9, 2022
The University of Vermont Medical Center says it is investing $2.8 million into a soon-to-be-constructed apartment building on Market Street in South Burlington. The Snyder Braverman Development Company will own and operate the building and plans to break ground in the coming weeks.
UVM Medical Center leaders say the first-of-its-kind arrangement will preserve the apartments for hospital staff for at least the next 10 years in an attempt to attract new workers to the area.
Tags: Burlington , UVM Medical Center , Hospital , Construction , Housing , Workforce , Synder Braveman , Web Only , Image
Three of four managers in Burlington's Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging are resigning. The news comes less than a month after the city said the department's leader, Tyeastia Green, was leaving her post.
Skyler Nash, Nyla Ruiz and Marielle Matthews will all leave within the next month or so, Green confirmed to Seven Days on Wednesday afternoon. The department's fourth manager, Belan Antensaye, has not resigned.
Nash, a public policy manager, was one of Green's first hires. His last day is March 10, the same as Green. Nash wouldn't say whether his exit is in solidarity with his boss, who reportedly felt unsupported during her two years on the job.
Tags: Burlington , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Skyler Nash , Nyla Ruiz , Tyeastia Green , Marielle Matthews , REIB , resignation , Web Only , Image
Monday, March 7, 2022
The daylong process ended with the same vote count as on Town Meeting Day: Dieng with 795 votes, Stith with 793 and Olivia Taylor, a Progressive-endorsed independent, with 89.
As soon as the election was certified, Dieng clapped and threw up two “V” signs for victory. Stith rushed over and shook his opponent’s hand.
“I’m highly confident about the election system we have in Burlington,” Dieng told a scrum of reporters after the vote, adding that he felt encouraged even with such a narrow margin.
“I’m a proud city councilor,” he said. “I’m someone who’s really loved in the New North End.”
Tags: Ali Dieng , Burlington City Council , Burlington , voting , recount , Ward 7 , Aleczander Stith , Web Only , Image
The 350 or so residents at the Burlington hospital asked for recognition last week after more than two-thirds signed up in support of joining the Committee of Interns and Residents, a New York-based union that represents more than 20,000 residents and fellows nationwide.
The hospital informed the group of its decision on Monday. In a statement to Seven Days, the hospital said it respected the right of its residents to "decide whether they want to join a union."
“We have encouraged the union seeking to represent our residents to work with the National Labor Relations Board on a process that will give everyone a voice," the statement read.
Tags: University of Vermont Medical Center , Union , Residents , Doctors , Labor , Web Only , Image
Friday, March 4, 2022
Stigliani's last day is Monday, March 7. She's spent nearly nine years at the Free Press, including the last three as the top editor. Stigliani penned a goodbye letter that the paper published online Friday morning.
Tags: Emilie Stigliani , Burlington Free Press , executive editor , Web Only , Image
Philanthropist Jan Blomstrann, the former owner of NRG Systems, a renewable energy firm based in Hinesburg, is donating 46 acres of land south of Champlain Valley Union High School for the neighborhood, CHT announced on Friday. Not yet planned in detail, the new neighborhood is expected to have family-friendly amenities such as sledding hills, playgrounds and trails.
CHT will develop 40 homes and Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity will put up 20. Habitat uses volunteer labor including "sweat equity" from those who are to live in its homes, in order to keep prices low.
These 60 homes will be for families earning less than the median area income — about $86,400 for a family of three. They'll use a "shared equity" model in which the owners, when they sell, share funds from appreciation of the home in order to keep the houses affordable in perpetuity.
Tags: Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity , Champlain Housing Trust , Sterling Construction , affordable homes , Web Only , Image
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Burlington announced it's suspending a sister-city program with Yaroslavl, Russia, which sent a delegation of ice hockey players to compete in the Lake Champlain Pond Hockey Classic just two years ago. The Russians got plenty of attention as they skated on Malletts Bay in Colchester.
Gov. Phil Scott had previously announced on Monday that state liquor stores would no longer sell the few Russian-owned brands they have offered. At his weekly press conference, Scott said he's also asked State Treasurer Beth Pearce to review and liquidate any investments Vermont has in Russia. He has also asked Administration Secretary Kristin Clouser to halt any purchases of Russian goods and terminate contracts with Russian entities.
"We should not support businesses that are funding this horrible war," Scott said, of Russia's invasion of its European neighbor.
Scott has also asked the legislature to appropriate $643,077 — one dollar for every Vermonter — for humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
Tags: Yaroslavl , Russia , Ukraine , Miro Weinberger , Phil Scott , Web Only , Image
As of March 14, Vermont will no longer recommend that students and staff of all ages and vaccination status wear masks in K-12 schools, officials said on Thursday. That will align schools with the state's guidance — or lack thereof — for all Vermonters.
While the state is eliminating its mask guidance, officials said that individual school districts can ultimately impose their own rules. And in districts that do away with masks, students have the right to wear face coverings — with "no stigma surrounding that" — if they choose to, Gov. Phil Scott said at his weekly press conference on Thursday.
The decision also applies to school buses, according to Education Secretary Dan French, "since masks are no longer required on school buses as a result of a recent change in federal regulation."
Tags: Vermont , Ukraine. COVID-19 , health , virus , masking , schools , education , guidance , recommendations , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
On Town Meeting Day, voters around Vermont roundly rejected school board candidates who ran on divisive, political issues.
Last month, Seven Days documented the phenomenon of national culture war issues filtering down to the local school board level, where elections are nonpartisan. But those Vermont candidates, running for boards including Mill River, Milton and Springfield, failed to garner enough support for their grievances about critical race theory, "socialism" and "indoctrination" of students.
In Milton, three candidates — Brock Rouse, Nichole Delong and Scott O'Brien — sent out a manifesto citing those exact issues, and all lost by hundreds of votes.
Had Rouse, Delong and O'Brien won, they would have formed a majority on the five-member school board. Some community members feared that could have led to a reversal of some recent equity initiatives in the district.
In Rutland, a debate over the Raiders mascot fueled a crowded race, with 10 candidates running for four seats. The school board had first ditched — then brought back — the name in a matter of 18 months.
Another group of four — Courtney Collins, Sara Doenges, Marybeth Lennox-Levins and Marisa Kiefaber — were promoted by the left-leaning political group Rutland Forward.
Tags: school boards , Springfield , St. Albans , Burlington , Milton , Rutland , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
On Tuesday, Burlington voters approved a $98.2 million new school budget and a pair of $20-million-plus bonds that will allow the city to revamp Main Street and complete a long list of municipal projects.
But voters narrowly struck down a 4-cent municipal tax rate increase by just 300 votes, dealing a blow to city officials who viewed the proposal as a prudent attempt to close a looming budget deficit. Department heads will now likely need to scour their budgets for cuts in the coming weeks.
The mixed verdict suggests that some residents are feeling the pain in the aftermath of a controversial reappraisal process that raised property taxes on most homeowners. It also portends a tough fight ahead over the school district's pursuit of a new high school; just hours before the polls closed, officials revealed that it could cost upwards of $200 million.
"The senior citizens need some help," said Ward 7 voter Judie Blanchard, who has lived in the neighborhood for 38 years and voted against every ballot item, including the tax increase. "We can't afford all these increases."
Tags: Burlington , Bond proposal , Tax increase , Town Meeting Day , Web Only , Image