Five supporters of Burlington's livable wage ordinance celebrated its successes and bemoaned its weaknesses during a Thursday evening forum at city hall sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center.

Two pioneering proponents of the 12-year-old ordinance — State Auditor Doug Hoffer and Vermont teachers' union organizer Emma Mulvaney-Stanak — were joined by City Councilor Sharon Bushor (I-Ward 1) and by Dan Holtz, owner of a Waitsfield cookie company that sets pay rates for its workers according to the state's separate (and lower) livable-wage formula. Nathan Suter, a Peace and Justice Center board member, moderated the discussion while also offering frequent comments of his own.

Absent from the event, which drew about 50 spectators, was anyone opposed to, or skeptical of, the livable-wage standard. Suter said that Benjy Adler, owner of a local restaurant that received a controversial exemption from the ordinance, had declined an invitation to take part. Executives of businesses outside the "social responsibility" circle had not been asked to attend, Suter added.

Burlington’s Moran Plant is popping up from the dead, but its resurrection will be short-lived.

The 60-year-old power plant, which went offline in 1986, will be the site on Saturday of a set of city-sponsored events intended to renew local interest in the decrepit waterfront structure and its surroundings. The “Popup Moran” happenings are set to start soon after Penguin Plungers emerge from the lake around 11:30 a.m. Lit by a bonfire, the fun continues till 10 at night.

“We want to bring energy and life to that part of the waterfront,” explains popup coordinator Diana Colangelo, who works for the city’s Community and Economic Development Office. “In a lot of people’s minds, the waterfront sort of ends at the Coast Guard station. We want people to feel invested in Moran.”

Does that mean the Weinberger administration is formally advocating rehabbing the building rather than, say, tearing it down? Not necessarily, Colangelo responds.

Burlington voters will see five contested city council races this March — several of which could turn out to be competitive. 

In the New North End, Democrat Tom Ayres and Republican Jim Robert will duke it out for a Ward 7 seat being vacated by Republican Councilor Vince Dober. Though the district tends to be the most conservative in the city, Ayres only narrowly lost a race last year to a well known incumbent Republican, Paul Decelles.

The Old North End will also have a contested election for an open seat. Former Progressive city councilor Jane Knodell was quick to jump into the race last week after Democratic Councilor Bram Kranichfeld announced his plans to step down from his Ward 2 seat at the end of his term.

On Monday, the day petitions to run were due at City Hall, Democrats announced their own candidate: neighborhood activist and local banker Emily Lee (pictured), a vice president at the downtown Merrill Lynch branch. The cofounder of the West Hill Neighborhood Association says she's particularly focused on housing.

"I've been really active here in the neighborhood and my feeling was we have a great deal of momentum going to improve Ward 2," she said. "I think we need more housing options — more housing built, so we have choices of where to live."

Daniello "Dan" Balón, a longtime educator and advocate for improving cultural awareness and racial sensitivity in the Burlington School District, died suddenly Tuesday morning from a heart attack. Balón, 42, leaves behind his wife and two daughters.

"This was completely unexpected," said Amy Mellencamp, Burlington High School principal, who has worked with Balón for the last four years. "Over the years, I have appreciated Dan's very deep commitment and passion for the opportunities each one of us should have in life... No one could ever doubt the commitment he had for young people."

Balón, a Filipino American, worked as director of diversity, education and engagmenet for the Burlington School District. His job involved recruiting and retaining people of color to city school jobs and providing diversity and equity training.

He was never shy about calling out what he saw as institutional racism and bigotry in all its forms. In a November 11, 2009 cover story, "Minority Rule: Who will lead the next generation of Vermont’s racial justice activists?"  Seven Days identified Balón as an up-and-coming leader in Vermont's social justice movement. Ironically, the story was precipitated by the deaths of two longtime Burlington civil rights adocates: John Tucker and Larry McCrory.

In this week's print edition of Seven Days, which is still totally free:

• In our cover story, Ken Picard reports on serious health and safety violations at Vermont's regulated day care centers and why the state has resisted shutting down some of the worst offenders.
• A grassroots campaign called Keep BT Local wants to purchase Burlington Telecom and reorganize it as a co-op, similar to City Market. But with time running out, Kevin J. Kelley reports their pledge drive is well short of its goal. 
• Kathryn Flagg digs deeper into her December story about state-funded motel stays for homeless Vermonters, and finds some local motels are making a killing by putting up Vermonters without shelter.
• In Fair Game, Paul Heintz has more on the story he broke about how an anonymous letter ended Brig. Gen. Jonathan Farnham's bid to become the Vermont National Guard's next leader. 
• On a lighter note, the Seven Days staff scoured the region to find the best hot chocolate in Vermont. Tough assignment, huh? 
• And don't forget to check Off Message, our news and politics blog, for all the latest...

A year after launching her unsuccessful bid for mayor of Burlington, Wanda Hines is leaving city government for a job in the nonprofit world.

Hines was mum about her plans, but Mark Gadue, treasurer of the Joint Urban Ministry Project, confirms that she'll be joining the Burlington-based interfaith organization as program director.

"We're obviously excited about it," Gadue says. "It's a big step for us. We've been mostly an all-volunteer organization, for the most part."

Hines, who previously ran the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, has worked at City Hall since 2007, when former mayor Bob Kiss hired her to direct the Social Equity Investment Project.

"We're sorry to see her go," says Community and Economic Development Office director Peter Owens, who praised her for "fighting for and raising issues within diversity and cultural competency" in Burlington.

"She's done her work and feels like she's moving forward to a new challenge and opportunity," he adds.

Owens says the city does not plan to immediately replace Hines. He said he'd wait to hear recommendations put forward this spring by the Diversity and Equity Committee, which was established by the Burlington City Council last July to study diversity issues in city government.

"It will not be filled until we have a clearer idea of where we're going," Owens says.

Hines, who ran for mayor as an independent last March, won 5 percent of the vote. 

She says she's looking forward to announcing more about her new job next week.

Four years after she gave up her seat to focus on her day job, former Burlington city councilor and University of Vermont provost Jane Knodell is staging a political comeback.

The Ward 2 Progressive said Sunday night she's planning to run this March for an Old North End council seat being vacated by Democrat Bram Kranichfeld. 

"I continue to be really passionate about the city of Burlington — about my ward," Knodell says. "I think I've got a lot of experience and also some new ideas to help us move forward."

The first candidate to enter the race for the open seat, Knodell brings with her some serious credentials. 

She represented Ward 2 on the council from 1993 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2009, and served two years as council president. An economics professor at UVM, Knodell stepped down as the university's provost last November after more than three years in the post.

"I think I learned a lot about how you make large organizations work," Knodell says of her time at the top of UVM. "The city is a large organization. I think I've got some new insights to bring."

She says she'll also bring a longer view to city government.

"There's been a lot of turnover in the council — a lot of relatively new councilors. That was part of my thinking: I could offer the historical perspective," she says. "Obviously, we have a brand-new mayor, a new administration, great people with good ideas."

"Would a Progressive Burlington, Vermont, mayor partner with the Koch brothers? Obviously not." That's what local left-wing agitator Jonathan Leavitt wrote in a 2011 blog post to illustrate the irony of Progressive Mayor Bob Kiss partnering with defense contractor Lockheed Martin on climate change initiatives.

How silly to think, Leavitt was suggesting, that the People's Republic of Burlington would ever do business with the billionaire Koch (pronounced "Coke") brothers, notorious among leftists for their bankrolling of numerous right-wing groups and causes.

Guess what?

Kiss' equally Proggy predecessor, Peter Clavelle, did do a deal with the Koch brothers (pictured) — and quite a momentous one, at that.

The legislature is still busy playing getting-to-know-you games in committee (we've witnessed no trust falls yet), but that doesn't mean it was a slow week in Vermont news and politics. As always, we're here to present its winners and losers.

So, without further ado, here they are for the week ending Friday, January 18.

Winners:

House Republicans — In a savvy political move, Reps. Kurt Wright (R-Burlington), Tom Koch (R-Barre) and Don Turner (R-Milton) got out ahead of their liberal counterparts Thursday to offer a set of campaign finance reforms meant to increase super PAC disclosure. Runner-up losers: Vermont Democrats, for sounding pedantic and partisan in their response, instead of embracing the proposals and one-upping the Rs.

Vermont cat ladies — Turns out we're the top pet-owning state (70.8 percent of households have a furry friend) and the top cat-owning state (49.5 percent). Almost enough to make us choke on a hairball.

Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch — A month after Seven Days started asking to interview them about their positions on gun control, the two D.C. Dems finally called us Wednesday. Runner-up losers: Bernie Sanders, who still won't call us back, and Gov. Peter Shumlin, who declined interview requests Wednesday after President Obama announced his new gun proposals, issuing only a written statement.

Montpelier's revolving door — With Shumlin telecom czar's defection to VTel, yet another insider takes a job at a company she helped out. Legislators may be peeved, but we'll bet a year's salary at Green Mountain Power that they won't change the rules.

Burlington Progressives — Democratic City Councilor Bram Kranichfeld's decision to nix his reelection plans gives the Progs a prime pick-up opportunity in the Old North End. Last year, they held just two seats on the 14-member council. After March, they could hold four. When you add in Progressive-leaning independent Sharon Bushor, that's a sizable Proggy caucus with which Mayor Miro Weinberger might have to deal.

Shumlin's Wal-Mart dance — With his announcement Tuesday of a new Wal-Mart planned for Derby, Shummy got a good press hit up in the Kingdom, where Wal-Mart's pretty popular. But his press office was mighty mum about it outside the Kingdom — perhaps fearing blow-back from anti-Wal-Mart liberals. Like this one.

Losers after the break...

News and politics stories in this week's issue of Seven Days...

• In this week's cover story, Ken Picard takes a deep dive into the state auditor's race between Republican Vince Illuzzi and Democrat/Progressive Doug Hoffer — a battle between the "King of the Kingdom" and the "Data Man."
• What's up with Burlington Telecom? Three years after its troubles first surfaced, the municipally-owned, deep-in-debt utility is still stuck on pause, writes Kevin J. Kelley.
• Kathryn Flagg writes about Burlington's big plans for its King Street neighborhood — without leaving its low-income residents behind.
• This week in Fair Game: Gov. Peter Shumlin talks a big game against corporate money in politics, but he's lining his campaign coffers with cash from special-interest groups. Plus, updates on super PAC backer Lenore Broughton, an Obama fundraiser with James Taylor in Vermont and more changes for the Burlington Free Press.