Tuesday, May 7, 2019
A citizens group is taking the city’s Burlington Telecom deal to the Vermont Supreme Court.
The group, collectively known as “citizen intervenors,” on Tuesday appealed the Vermont Public Utility Commission’s February 19 decision to green-light the $30.8 million sale to Indiana-based Schurz Communications.
Sandra Baird, Jared Carter, Dean Corren, Steven Goodkind, Solveig Overby and Shay Totten say the city’s net profit of about $7 million does not fully recoup the $16.9 million owed to city taxpayers. That figure dates back about a decade, when then-mayor Bob Kiss diverted city funds to keep the sinking telecom operation afloat.
Tags: Burlington Telecom , Burlington , Vermont Supreme Court , Schurz Communications , Public Utility Commission , Web Only , Image
Monday, May 6, 2019
Hospitality Funding, under the business name Hotel Y Burlington, is planning a six-story, 142-room Cambria hotel, one of 10 brands owned by Choice Hotels. The company also operates Comfort Inn, Clarion, Econo Lodge and others, according to its website.
But Hospitality Funding's chairman and CEO has Queen City ties, according to Nicole Ravlin, a spokesperson for the hotel. Scott Silver attended the University of Vermont as an undergrad, and his son lives in BTV, she said. Silver will serve as the Burlington project's managing partner.
“Vermont is kind of his home away from home, and this is why he was interested in doing something with the community here,” Ravlin said.
Tags: Burlington , YMCA , development , Cambria Hotels , Scott Silver , Cleary Buckley , Smith Buckley Architects , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
A vote on the matter is scheduled for May 9.
Dr. Peter Gunther, chief medical officer of the nonprofit health center, said employees officially informed the CHCB administration of their intent to organize on April 19, but he’d “heard rumblings weeks before.”
The union, called Community Health United, has launched a campaign seeking support prior to the May vote. Emails obtained by Seven Days show that Community Health United promises “greater transparency, a seat at the decision-making table and pay equity” for employees.
Tags: Community Health Centers of Burlington , union , health care , Web Only , Image
Monday, April 29, 2019
City councilors had hoped to get answers from Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo about their intervention efforts but heard more of the same during the discussion hosted in a packed City Hall conference room.
“The chief and I have been questioned again and again by members of the media … about the actions that took place here. We have shared as much as we can about that,” Weinberger said. “The attorney general does not want the facts of the case discussed any further.”
Tags: Burlington , CityPlace , Douglas Kilburn , Burlington City Council , Brandon del Pozo , Web Only , Image
Previously unreported court records show that, by his own account, Campbell initiated physical contact with Kilburn by grabbing the disabled man's arm as he stepped out of his SUV, in an attempt to handcuff him.
Kilburn then punched the officer using his free arm, hitting him in the jaw — a blow Campbell rated as three out of 10 on a pain scale. Campbell reported landing three punches in return, all to Kilburn's right eye, sending him to the ground.
"I placed Kilburn into handcuffs and observed Kilburn to be bleeding heavily from his right eye," Campbell wrote.
Tags: Cory Campbell , Douglas Kilburn , Burlington Police Department , use of force , UVM Medical Center , Web Only , Image
Friday, April 26, 2019
Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo will appear before the council on Monday. The agenda item is listed as an “expected executive session,” but council President Kurt Wright (R-Ward 4) said some discussion may be public.
Councilor Ali Dieng (D/P-Ward 7) requested Weinberger and del Pozo provide a “detailed explanation” about why officials questioned and attempted to stifle chief medical examiner Steven Shapiro’s classification of Douglas Kilburn’s death as a homicide. Kilburn, 54, died March 14, three days after being punched by Officer Cory Campbell.
Tags: Burlington City Council , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Chief Brandon del Pozo , police , crime , Douglas Kilburn , Cory Campbell , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
The Burlington police union sued in state court Monday on behalf of Officer Cory Campbell to force city officials to hand over bodycam footage, surveillance video and other documents related to the altercation outside the University of Vermont Medical Center emergency department.
Tags: Cory Campbell , Douglas Kilburn , Burlington Police Department , City of Burlington , Rich Cassidy , bodycam , public records , Vermont State Police , Burlington Police Officers' Association , Web Only , Image
Monday, April 22, 2019
The summer market will open at the same time on May 11 but in a different place, as City Hall Park, the market’s home for nearly four decades, will soon close for a two-year renovation.
By day, 345 Pine Street is a dirt lot between the Barge Canal Market and the Chittenden Solid Waste District drop-off that Dealer.com workers use for overflow parking. But every Saturday through October, it will be home to the summer market’s 90-plus vendors — a huge relief to the organization's executive director, Chris Wagner.
“At first it was mutiny,” Wagner said, recalling last fall when he told vendors they were being uprooted. “It was a challenge for me, but I was more than happy to do it to really convince them of how exciting this location could be and how up-and-coming the South End is."
Tags: Burlington Farmers Market , City Hall Park , Miro Weinberger , Web Only , Image
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Weinberger's chief of staff, Jordan Redell, texted, called and emailed the governor's office on the morning of April 10, just as Vermont State Police were preparing to announce that the state medical examiner classified Douglas Kilburn's death as a homicide, the emails state.
"She was energetically reaching out trying to have us intervene to pause the release," Jason Gibbs, chief of staff for Gov. Phil Scott, wrote later that day to the heads of the Department of Public Safety and the Vermont State Police.
"That does not feel right to me, at any level," he wrote in another internal email.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Jason Gibbs , Douglas Kilburn , Cory Campbell , Thomas Anderson , autopsy findings , medical examiner , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
State police announced last week that the medical examiner had deemed Douglas Kilburn's death a homicide. Earlier that morning, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo had contacted the state's top health official with "concerns" about the quality of the medical examiner's work and suggested that his conclusion might be "amended," emails obtained through Vermont's public records law show.
"I have conferred with the mayor and we are in agreement in requesting clarification of these findings before they are made public," del Pozo wrote to Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine.
Tags: Douglas Kilburn , Brandon del Pozo , Burlington Police , medical examiner , Steven Shapiro , City of Burlington , autopsy , Certification of Death , Web Only , Image