Friday, February 26, 2021
Updated at 4:06 p.m.
Burlington Police have referred an unknown number of people to a restorative justice program for repeatedly calling City Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) during a council meeting in December.
Burlington Police Lt. Justin Couture would not disclose how many people were referred to the program, nor would he share their names.
Councilor Shannon, however, told Seven Days that multiple people were referred to the program, which can include moderated discussions between the victim and offenders. Shannon said she hopes the process is productive.
"I want something that makes us better. I want that for Burlington," Shannon said. "I don't think that Burlington is in a healthy place right now. I don't think the way to get change is the way we've been approaching it in the last eight months. This isn't the way to make progress. This is just sowing division."
Tags: Councilor Joan Shannon , Burlington , Burlington City Council , Burlington Police Department , Web Only , Image
Thursday, February 25, 2021
All four city council district seats, which represent two wards apiece, are up for election on March 2. Franklin Paulino, a Democrat and one-term councilor in the North District, is the only incumbent not running for reelection.
Competing for his seat are independent Mark Barlow and Progressive/Democrat Kienan Christianson.
While some of their policies differ, the candidates both said the hyper-partisan dynamic on the council motivated them to run. Both say they're best suited to temper the political divide — Barlow because he hasn't aligned himself with either party and Christianson because he's able to work with both.
“I wouldn't caucus with anybody, but I would talk to everybody,” Barlow said. “The people that I would probably seek out most frequently are the people that I disagreed most strenuously with and tried to find common ground.”
Said Christianson: “When people get backed into their corners … it’s hard to find a path forward.” After he earned endorsements from both parties, Christianson said, it’s clear Burlingtonians want a councilor “who can work with both sides.”
Tags: Burlington City Council , election , Town Meeting Day , Mark Barlow , Kienan Christianson , Burlington , Web Only , Image
The Vermont Lake Monsters will be sold to an investment group, and the team is expected to play in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League this summer, the club announced on Thursday.
The deal with Nos Amours Baseball Club is contingent “on a few agreements,” including a new lease with the University of Vermont, which owns the team’s historic ballpark, Centennial Field.
“The landscape has changed and this transition will allow the Lake Monsters to create amazing summertime memories for years to come,” Kyle Bostwick, the Lake Monsters’ vice president, said in a statement. “We are all looking forward to continuing to root for the home team, and we thank all of our fans, partners, staff, and supporters for an amazing ride.”
Tags: baseball , Lake Monsters , Vermont , ownership , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Councilors had delayed a vote on the settlement last week because it didn’t guarantee union labor to build the downtown project. While the final agreement doesn’t deliver on that front, it does promise to pay workers the prevailing wage, an hourly rate set by the state for various trades.
The wage for construction workers in the Burlington area, for example, is $18.45 an hour. According to the Vermont AFL-CIO, the prevailing wage could boost workers’ earnings by up to 42.5 percent.
"Approval of this resolution, from my perspective, is a big win," Councilor Chip Mason (D-Ward 5) said before the vote. "I see it as a path forward for the pit that I and all of us have looked at for the last four years."
Tags: CityPlace Burlington , CityPlace , Burlington City Council , Don Sinex , Dave Farrington , Al Senecal , Scott Ireland , lawsuit , litigation , Web Only , Image
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Renter-rights advocates are condemning signs that urge Burlington voters to protect tenants of color by rejecting a ballot item that would ban no-cause evictions. The proposal, the advocates say, would help, not harm, those tenants.
"Vote No on #5 Just Cause," the signs say. "Protect BIPOC tenants from racist neighbors."
The unsigned messages, which appeared along heavily trafficked public rights of way, seem to suggest that if Question 5 passes this Town Meeting Day, landlords would not be able to evict tenants who harass neighbors who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color.
The orange and white placards drew ire from proponents of the ballot item, including City Councilor Zoraya Hightower (P-Ward 1), who last year became the first woman of color to be elected to the council.
Tags: just-cause eviction , no-cause eviction , Town Meeting Day , election , ballot item , Burlington , renters , Web Only , Image
Campaign finance reports filed with the Vermont Secretary of State on Saturday night show the three-term Democrat has raked in $126,147, besting his own record-breaking haul of about $125,500 during the 2018 campaign. He has brought in $40,400 since January 31, the last reporting deadline.
“I am both humbled and grateful to have earned your support,” Weinberger wrote in an email to supporters Saturday evening. “Our fundraising success confirms what I have sensed since we launched our campaign in December, Burlingtonians know these are serious times and this is a critical election.”
Tracy has raised $63,336 total, including $20,895 this reporting period. He's also attracted the most new donors since the last reporting deadline and has the most contributors in the race. A total of 547 people have donated to Tracy’s campaign, while 461 have given to Weinberger and 115 to fellow contender Councilor Ali Dieng (I-Ward 7).
Dieng has raised $10,920 to date, about $3,200 since the last filing date.
Tags: campaign finance , Miro Weinberger , Max Tracy , Ali Dieng , mayoral race , election , Town Meeting Day , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Charlie Auer, who helped run the iconic Charlie's Boathouse on Burlington's northern waterfront, has died, friends and family members said Wednesday. He was 89.
He and his sister, Christine Auer Hebert, were the longtime proprietors of the business, also known as the Auer Family Boathouse. The siblings' father, Charlie Sr., built the red clapboard barn-like building in 1928 and ran the place for decades. The Auer kids spent summers there. When their mom passed away in the early '90s, Charlie Jr. and Christine took the place on.
"He always was laughing," Christine told WCAX-TV on Wednesday. "I never heard him say no to anybody."
Tags: Burlington , Charlie's Boathouse , Lake Champlain , Burlington Bike Path , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
The decision comes a little over a week after Mayor Miro Weinberger announced the settlement with managing partner Don Sinex and his three local business partners, Dave Farrington, Al Senecal and Scott Ireland.
The settlement seeks to resolve the lawsuit the city filed against the developers last September, which alleged they had violated a development agreement by not building the downtown project on the original timeline. Developers had agreed to continue building "without interruption" after the former Burlington Town Center mall was torn down in 2017, but the site has been vacant since, earning the derisive nickname "the pit."
As part of the new deal, the developers agreed to rebuild the cut-off sections of St. Paul and Pine streets — and pay for it if construction doesn't begin by September 2022 — among other provisions. The city and the partners cheered the settlement as a key step in moving the project forward.
Tags: CityPlace Burlington , AFL-CIO , Don Sinex , Burlington , Burlington City Council , University of Vermont , UVM , Web Only , Image
Monday, February 15, 2021
An item on the ballot this Town Meeting Day asks Burlington voters whether the city should change its charter to ban these “no-cause” evictions. If it passes, the measure would also need approval from both the legislature and the governor before becoming local law.
The proposal has broad support from tenants’ rights groups, including members of the Burlington Tenants Union, who say landlords should have to provide a “just cause” before sending them packing. Vermont Legal Aid estimates that nearly 370 Chittenden County residents were evicted annually during the last five years for no stated reason.
“We believe every tenant in Burlington deserves the right to stay in their home without the stress of eviction just because landlords have the right to say, ‘You must leave,’” Christie Delphia, a tenants union organizer and renter, said during a virtual town hall on the topic last week.
Landlord advocates, however, say property owners need no-cause evictions to get rid of tenants who are simply not a good fit. And they worry that a provision of the proposal would hamper their ability to increase rents each year.
“I don’t think that this just-cause ordinance is going to fix the things the advocates say it’s going to fix,” said Angela Zaikowski, director of the Vermont Landlord Association and an attorney who represents landlords in eviction proceedings. “I think it actually has the potential to make it harder to find a place to live in Burlington.”
Tags: just-cause eviction , no-cause eviction , Burlington City Council , ballot , Town Meeting Day , vote , landlords , renters , Web Only , Image
Thursday, February 11, 2021
If confirmed, the results would mark the first known presence of the B.1.1.7 variant in Vermont, which has been found in 34 other states.
“This is a new stage of the pandemic here in Vermont,” Health Commissioner Mark Levine said in a press release Thursday. “It is not, however, surprising. We expected that variants could be circulating in Vermont, and now that looks to be the case.”
Tags: coronavirus , testing , variant , wastewater , COVID-19 , Burlington , Web Only , Image