Tuesday, August 20, 2019
South Carolina firm Gotcha planned to roll out 200 e-bikes in Burlington, South Burlington and Winooski to replace the 105 pedal bikes in the Greenride bike-share program. The electric assist is intended to help cyclists navigate the hilly local landscape.
But the bikes will likely still be stuck overseas when college classes start here next week. Thousands of Chinese imports, including bike parts, are subject to 25 percent tariffs as part of President Donald Trump’s escalating trade dispute with China that began in 2017.
Gotcha public relations director Caroline Passe initially told Seven Days on Monday that there's no delay and that the company needed to “discuss the details of the program” with its partners. But by then, three of the seven partners had already told Seven Days that they were well aware Gotcha wouldn’t meet its delivery target.
“[Gotcha] told us they’re having challenges with getting the bikes from China to America in a sufficient manner,” said Nic Anderson, associate director of sustainable transportation at Champlain College, a Greenride partner.
Tags: Gotcha , bike share , Greenride , Burlington , South Burlington , Winooski , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 19, 2019
A Vermont man who once left Ku Klux Klan recruitment flyers at the homes of two women of color is now wanted by Burlington police for a Monday morning assault at the downtown transit center.
William D. Schenk, 25, allegedly attacked a 33-year-old man at the bus station just before 11 a.m. Video of the incident shows the victim looking at his phone before a man starts talking to him. The man, allegedly Schenk, takes off his backpack and begins to physically fight the victim, throwing several punches as at least one bystander tries to break it up.
Burlington cops said the two men knew each other.
“The suspect also struck the victim with an object believed to be a small glass pipe, causing a laceration to the victim’s head,” cops wrote in a press release. “He then fled the scene.”
The victim was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Tags: William Schenk , KKK , flyers , recruitment , assault , Burlington , bus station , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
The labor board found that the Burlington School Board was within its rights to decide to withhold teacher pay for days "when they did no work," according to a July 9 opinion dismissing an unfair labor charge.
The ruling noted that the employer, or school board, "made it clear both before the strike and following the strike that teachers would not receive pay for the time spent on strike."
Furthermore, the ruling pointed out, the Burlington Education Association signed a contract with no promise of reimbursement for the days.
Tags: Burlington , union , strike , Burlington Education Association , Burlington School Board , Vermont-National Education Association , back pay , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Union Station, at 1 Main Street, scored highest among five potential sites in a final report released by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission on July 17. The report considered costs, noise and impacts on current rail operations, among other factors.
The report is the final draft of a study released last summer that also endorsed Union Station, according to Eleni Churchill, the commission's transportation program manager. The commission beefed up its data collection on noise and air quality after neighbors voiced concerns at a public meeting in June 2018, she said.
"Understandably, there are people who are concerned with having the train parked overnight in front of certain sites," Churchill said. "There’s going to be some impacts, but we’re going to see the benefits of this train coming into Burlington."
Tags: Union Station , Vermont Rail Systems , Burlington , Amtrak , Ethan Allen Express , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
The stickers — which depict a sickle, the slogan “Better Dead Than Red” and Patriot Front’s web address — were affixed to the King Street side of the Turning Point Center building on South Winooski Avenue. The wall displays wayfinding signs for Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington, Migrant Justice, the Vermont Workers' Center and 350Vermont, all of which have space in the building at 179 South Winooski.
After receiving a complaint, officers removed the stickers around 8 a.m. Wednesday, Det. Tom Chenette said.
“We tend to get a lot of calls about them,” Chenette said of such stickers. “They are absolutely bias-motivated and absolutely targeting these institutions.”
Tags: Patriot Front , Burlington , stickers , hate group , Miro Weinberger , Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington , Migrant Justice , 350Vermont , Vermont Workers' Center , Web Only , Image
Thursday, July 18, 2019
By sometime next month, Garber hopes to have Burly Axe Throwing, a competitive axe throwing venue, up and operating at 294 North Winooski Avenue.
Participants chuck two-pound axes — really more like hatchets — at a bullseye painted on a wooden wall to earn the most points.
“It’s a lot like darts,” Garber said. “It sort of gives you the feeling of danger, but it’s under control.”
Tags: Burlington , business , Burly Axe Throwing , axe throwing , Vermont , Mike Garber , escape rooms , trends , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
One of the workers, who declined to give his name, said the crane was needed at a different site.
But John Franco, an attorney representing opponents of the redevelopment, called the explanation “bullshit.” In reality, he said, the crews were disassembling a "Potemkin village" — a term for a deceptive façade — meant to convince locals that work was underway on the controversial project.
Tags: CityPlace Burlington , John Franco , SD Ireland , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
The June 26 settlement with Jason Ploof also says the city will rewrite its trespass ordinance by year’s end, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, which represented Ploof along with attorney Justin Barnard of Dinse in Burlington.
“Our parks, especially central parks like City Hall Park, are something that belongs to everybody,” ACLU of Vermont staff attorney Jay Diaz told Seven Days. “We’re glad that the city going forward is going to take that more seriously than they have in the past, applying due process of law whenever they attempt to revoke people’s rights.”
In 2015, Burlington police ticketed and trespassed Ploof twice for having an open container in the park, the second time for 90 days. Police then arrested Ploof when they saw him conversing with friends near the fountain during that period, according to court documents.
With the ACLU of Vermont’s backing, Ploof contended that the banishment “unlawfully restricted [his] freedom to receive information and enter a traditional public forum, in violation of the First Amendment.” The suit survived the city’s attempts to dismiss it.
Tags: Burlington , litigation , lawsuit , City Hall Park , American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont , Jay Diaz , no-trespass order , ordinance , Eileen Blackwood , Jason Ploof , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 12, 2019
Jeff Glassberg is scheduled to meet with the Burlington City Council in executive session on Monday night. He said he expects the city to release a statement providing an update on the situation sometime after that. He does not expect the project's majority owner, Brookfield Asset Management, to attend the meeting nor to help craft the statement.
Glassberg wouldn't elaborate when asked what the statement would say. But the consultant, who has liaised between the parties for the last year, said locals are owed an explanation for why construction on the $250 million, 14-story project has yet to begin.
“They absolutely need to share with the public what is going on,” Glassberg said. “It’s the second week of July. My phone is not ringing off the hook with people complaining about noise and dust from construction. That’s what I expected.”
Tags: CityPlace Burlington , Jeff Glassberg , Brookfield Asset Management , Miro Weinberger , mayor , Will Voegele , Web Only , Image
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Opponents of a redesign to Burlington's City Hall Park were dealt a blow the day after the city closed the park for construction.
A Vermont Superior Court judge ruled Thursday morning that the project — including tree removal — can proceed despite a lingering legal question over whether the city’s zoning permit for the project is expired.
Members of Keep the Park Green, a coalition opposed to the redesign’s tree plan, argued that the permit itself says it becomes invalid unless “work or action authorized by the permit” started by March 22, 2019. Fencing only went up on Wednesday.
The group asked for a hearing on the matter before tree removal and other demolition could proceed, but Judge Helen Toor ruled against them in a one-page order Thursday morning.
“The court has already ruled that the replacement of older trees with younger ones, and the plaintiffs’ sadness at seeing the changes in the park, do not meet the definition of irreparable harm,” Toor wrote.
Tags: Burlington , City Hall Park , Keep the Park Green , Donna Walters , trees , Web Only , Image