Segways could soon join cycles on Burlington's bike path.

The city's Parks and Recreation Commission is scheduled at its November 27 meeting to consider allowing recreational use of the battery-powered personal transportation devices on the 7.5-mile bike path. Adoption of such a policy could clear the way for the start of guided Segway tours next spring.

Rick Sharp (pictured), a 59-year-old attorney who was instrumental in the bike path's creation, has been trying for the past three years to win city approval for Segway tours he plans to operate on a commercial basis. Sharp expresses hope that the parks commission will support his initiative on at least a trial basis.

He's winning backing for his idea from some key figures.

Chapin Spencer, director of the pedestrian and bicycle advocacy group Local Motion, says he's in favor of giving Segways a trial run. "It would be a chance for [Sharp] to prove it works on the bike path and sidewalks," Spencer comments.

Kelly Devine, director of the Burlington Business Association, is also personally open to trial use of Segways downtown and along the lake. Devine emphasizes that she has not yet presented the issue to her group's board of directors.

The new city parks director likewise appears supportive of Sharp's proposal for a test of Segways' compatibility with other uses of the bike path. Jesse Bridges, now in his fourth week on the job, says there's little question that the city must accept Segway use by disabled persons. Sharp is himself disabled as a result of a paragliding accident several years ago.

Bridges adds that Sharp seemed to have addressed safety concerns in regard to recreational use during a Segway outing that the two recently took on the bike path.

For his part, Sharp remarks, "After three years of stonewalling, I'm thrilled that we actually have a parks director who returns emails and who is willing to experience a Segway first-hand."

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"I just wanted to meet with him in his element and pass the baton," O'Malley told Seven Days after polishing off lunch with his fellow gov.

Shumlin's element?

That would be Burlington's Farmhouse Tap and Grill, where the two dined with DGA executive director Colm O'Comartun and Shumlin chief of staff Bill Lofy, who is leaving state government to serve as Shumlin's liaison to the DGA.

(Pictured in photo, from left to right: Lofy, Shumlin, O'Comartun and O'Malley)

"I wanted to come up and see Gov. Peter Shumlin, who I anticipate and hope will be the next chair of the Democratic Governors Association," O'Malley said. "He's become a dear friend to me and I have a great deal of respect for how he governs and his leadership abilities. And so I just wanted to come up here and sit down and talk about the transition forward after what was a really good year."

Here's what happening in Vermont news and politics this week. Got an event for next week's calendar? Email us by Friday to submit.

Monday, November 19

• At noon, Vermont Public Radio's "Vermont Edition" tackles food stamps, with guests Marissa Parisi and Rob Meehan.
• U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) is in Chittenden County all day. At 12:15 p.m., he speaks to the Burlington Rotary Club at the Hilton. At 2:45, he visits COTS' Canal Street apartments on — yup, you guessed it — West Canal Street in Winooski. And at 5, he visits the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf in Burlington.
• Gov. Peter Shumlin's got a light public schedule this week. At 1:20 p.m., the guv holds a press conference in a prison (!). He'll highlight Salvation Farms, a project at the Southeast State Correctional Facility in Windsor to make surplus Vermont-grown potatoes available to food shelves in the southeastern part of the state.
• At 3:45 p.m., Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger holds a ribbon-cutting press conference to formally open Appletree Park Playground in the New North End. 
• At 5 p.m., the Burlington City Council's special committee on ward redistricting hosts a public meeting in Contois Auditorium to review redrawn maps for wards 4, 6 and 7. View the maps here.
• At 5:25 p.m., State Auditor-elect Doug Hoffer is live on Channel 17 (CCTV). Stream it live.

In this week's dead-tree edition of Seven Days...

• A developer wants to build up to 300 new apartments in Burlington, but some neighbors aren't thrilled with the plan.
• Burlington voters authorized $6 million in borrowing to fund waterfront improvements. What's on the way? Bike path repairs and improvements, 125 new parking spaces and a realigned Lake Street.
• A greener way to fuel your furnaces and vehicles: Central Vermont's first facility blending used cooking grease with heating oil and diesel fuel is now open.
  
  
• This week's cover story: How Ric Cabot and Darn Tough Vermont saved the last hosiery mill in New England. The Cabot Hosiery sock sale continues this weekend!
  
  
• And in Fair Game, Paul Heintz takes a closer look at the shakeup coming to Gov. Peter Shumlin's cabinet. Plus, lawmakers gun for House leadership positions, the Burlington Free Press loses subscribers and two Burlington TV stations get new owners. 

The media spotlight last night focused on the statewide races and that Obama guy, but there were some spirited races on the local level, as well. The big wins Democrats showed at the top of the ticket trickled down to the Legislature; as it stands Democrats added two seats for a "supermajority" of 96 seats in the House of Representatives, while Progressives picked up a couple seats and Republicans lost three. The 22-8 split in the state Senate in favor of the Democrats appears it will hold, although each party holds a seat, for now, that could still change.

For the most complete results page, head over to Vermont Public Radio's elections page. The Secretary of State's unofficial results site once again lagged behind local media outlets on election night, and currently shows only about 75 percent of precincts reporting results.

With the caveat that results are still unofficial, here's how some of Vermont's other interesting races shook out.

Vermont Democrats went wild as newly-elected State Treasurer Beth Pearce took to the stage late Tuesday night in a crowded ballroom at the Burlington Hilton.

As Pearce settled into her victory speech, the crowd went even wilder. But it wasn’t just for her. To the side of the stage, a television tuned to CNN was flashing some pretty big news. “I think I just heard that Obama won Ohio,” Pearce said. “Boy, I hope I got that right.”

She did.

This was a night of euphoria for Vermont Dems — up and down the ballot. Within minutes of the polls closing, the AP called it for their top officeholders: Gov. Peter Shumlin, Sen. Bernie Sanders (an independent who caucueses with Democrats) and Congressman Peter Welch. And Vermont once again sent Obama his first three votes in the Electoral College.

In the race Vermont Democrats focused on the most, Pearce handily defeated Rutland’s Republican city treasurer, Wendy Wilton, by a 52 to 41 percent margin.

But the biggest surprise of the night came when Burlington’s own Doug Hoffer (pictured above), a Democrat and Progressive, defeated 32-year Republican state Sen. Vince Illuzzi 51 to 45 to become Vermont’s next state auditor.

In a speech as low-key as his win was unexpected, Hoffer — a self-employed policy analyst running in his second race for state auditor — concluded by saying, simply, “I’m going to get to work.”

It took all campaign season, but we finally got a photo of Lenore Broughton, the Burlington heiress who's bankrolling the conservative super PAC Vermonters First to the tune of $1 million this election. 

Despite her outsize influence on state elections this year, Broughton keeps a low public profile. She declines every interview request she gets and has turned away numerous reporters looking for quotes from her front door this fall.

Prior to a recent Seven Days story and others that followed, there wasn't much known about her background or the source of her sizable fortune. And there don't appear to be any photos of her on the web.

Our last attempt to photograph the elusive Broughton didn't go so well. She walked away from a public meeting rather than be photographed. So we had to get a little more aggressive on the second try.

Seven Days hired freelance photographer Andy Duback to photograph Broughton at a public meeting of a board on which she serves. On Monday, Duback snapped this photo at Burlington City Hall as Broughton was getting on an elevator following the meeting. Along with being a member of the Burlington Telecom Cable Advisory Council, Broughton serves on the Burlington Board for Registration of Voters. That's the volunteer panel charged with maintaining Burlington's voter lists.

Updated below with details of a Burlington City Hall press conference Mayor Miro Weinberger called Saturday afternoon to refute Vermonters First’s claims.

First they supported statewide candidates. Then they tackled legislative races. Now Vermonters First, the big-spending, conservative super PAC, is going local.

The group's latest mailer, which reached Burlington homes Saturday, targets a Queen City ballot item.

"Vote no on question 1. Say no to new debt," it reads. "A tax increase is not a fresh start."

That line appears to be a dig at Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, who promised a "fresh start" during his successful mayoral campaign last winter. Weinberger has championed the $9 million ballot question, which seeks to refinance short-term borrowing made necessary by the Burlington Telecom fiasco with long-term bonding.

The ballot item requires two-thirds support from Burlington voters Nov. 6 in order to pass.

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Thirteen of the city's 14 city councilors support it. Its sole opponent, Republican Paul Decelles, tells Seven Days he worked with Vermonters First treasurer and consultant Tayt Brooks on the super PAC's new mailer.

"We definitely talked about it," Decelles says. "They ran some things by us and we ran some things by them."

Decelles says he can't quite recall whose idea the mailer was. He says he's in close touch with Brooks, with whom he worked closely when Brooks managed former Republican city councilor Kurt Wright's mayoral campaign against Weinberger. Decelles says he sees no problem with a super PAC delving into municipal politics.

"I see no issue with it," he says. "I don't necessarily have issues with super PACs in general trying to spread their message."

Weinberger certainly does.

Call it a Mirobocall.

On Sunday, almost every land line in Burlington will get a pre-recorded call from Mayor Miro Weinberger urging them to vote yes on three ballot items next Tuesday, and inviting them to participate in a "telephone town hall" about the initiatives.

The robocall, which will go out to roughly 10,000 phone numbers, is part of a $17,000 campaign to win support for three ballot questions that go to Burlington voters on Election Day: a $9 million "fiscal stability bond" that requires a difficult-to-achieve two-thirds majority to pass; and two initiatives to improve and repair waterfront instrastructure, which can each pass with simply majorities.

The campaign, organized by a group called the Partnership for Burlington's Future, is not advocating for passage of a fourth ballot question: a nonbinding referendum on legalizing marijuana and hemp products.

Seven months into his administration, Weinberger is making a strong push for approval of plans that define the direction in which he wants to take the city and that will act as a gauge of his political standing. Weinberger and his supporters have scheduled a rally for passage on Sunday evening at Club Metronome with the Dave Grippo Funk Band and DJ Craig Mitchell providing the tunes.

So who's bankrolling the Partnership for Burlington's Future?

In this week's paper-and-ink edition of Seven Days, featuring an exclusive look at Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's Halloween costumes on the cover...

• A spooky Halloween story: "Haunted" tourism is big business in Vermont.
• Attention has focused on Sorrell and McMullen in the attorney general's race, but Progressive candidate Ed Stanak is making an impact on the race.
• The secretary of state's office suffered a series of screwups after the August primary — is Secretary of State Jim Condos to blame?
• In this infographic, find out which Vermont candidates are plowing their thousands of dollars of their own money into their campaigns this year.
• This week in Fair Game: Randy Brock's desperation heave, plus a roundup of state Senate and House races to watch on Tuesday.

Illustration by Matt Morris