Thursday, December 16, 2021
Weinberger released a 10-point plan to open areas of the city to builders. The goal is to roughly double the rate of development to enable construction of 1,250 more housing units by 2027.
“Every neighborhood in the city has the potential to welcome many more households than they do today, while becoming even stronger and more appealing places to live than they are today,” Weinberger said at a press conference outside City Hall.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , City of Burlington , Champlain Housing Trust , Russ Scully , South End , Housing , Housing Development , Affordable Housing , Housing Shortage , Joe Magee , Sears Lane Encampment , Trinity Campus , UVM Student Housing , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Last Friday morning, bucket loaders and armed police arrived at the South End site and forced out six remaining campers, weeks after the city had ordered it vacated.
Monday night, several people decried the move during the meeting's public forum. Progressive councilors and Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, traded barbs over the city's handling of the encampment's closure altogether.
Councilor Joe Magee (P-Ward 3), who was at the site during the clear-out, said he's ashamed to be part of a governing body "that has failed to take action to protect the most vulnerable members of our community."
Last week's action demonstrated that "we aren't serious about pursuing harm reduction or trauma-informed practice," Magee said.
Tags: Burlington , Burlington City Council , charter change , Town Meeting Day , prostitution , pupil weighting , Sears Lane , homelessness , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 10, 2021
What remained of the Sears Lane homeless encampment in Burlington's South End was completely dismantled Friday morning when city crews staged an early-morning cleanup and forced out the six remaining residents.
Loaders rolled in at about 7:30 a.m. and were still moving piles of debris into dumpsters more than three hours later. Trucks periodically hauled in empty trash receptacles as others were filled to the brim.
Former Sears Lane resident Grey Barreda watched the scene solemnly from outside the chain link fence that now surrounds the site. Barreda and another former camper, Alexys Grundy, sued the city over their forced removal last month. But a Superior Court judge has continually sided with city officials in the ongoing case.
“The people in power decide who’s a victim, and the city has decided they’re the victim,” Barreda said. “This is a temper tantrum.”
Tags: Burlington , Sears Lane , homeless encampment , Burlington Police , Web Only , Image
Thursday, December 9, 2021
Longtime Burlington City Councilor Chip Mason (D-Ward 5) won't seek reelection in March, creating an open seat in the city's traditionally Democratic South End.
Mason, 52, has served on the city council for a decade, and before that, on the city's Retirement Board and Board of Tax Appeals. He has chaired the council's Ordinance Committee, which vets policy on issues ranging from short-term rentals to zoning rules, since first being elected in 2012. Mason is a managing partner at Burlington law firm Gravel & Shea, a role that sometimes requires him to recuse himself from council business.
"During my time on the Council I have been proud to be a consistent advocate for policies that make our city more affordable, more livable, and more accessible," Mason said in a press release Thursday announcing his decision. "I have enjoyed collaborating with Mayor [Miro] Weinberger and my colleagues on shared priorities."
Tags: Chip Mason , Burlington City Council , city council , Burlington , elections , Town Meeting Day , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
A pair of city spending plans got mixed results during a special Burlington election on Tuesday.
Voters shot down a $40 million capital bond, which would have fixed up sidewalks and replaced aging fire trucks, 57.3 percent to 42.7 percent; it needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The plan would have raised taxes for the average homeowner.
But voters approved a $20 million revenue bond for the Burlington Electric Department, which will get the city closer to its goal of eliminating its use of fossil fuels by 2030. That item passed 70 percent to 30 percent with a simple majority.
The capital bond's failure marks the first time in Mayor Miro Weinberger's nine-plus years in office that voters have said "no" to a bond vote. They previously approved a $27.5 million bond in 2016, the first part of Weinberger's 10-year capital spending plan that upgraded most of the city’s bike path and fixed 14 miles of sidewalks.
Tags: Burlington , capital bond , special election , Mayor Miro Weinnberger , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
But the belligerent crowd ultimately failed, and the council unanimously approved an indoor mask mandate.
The Queen City measure, which goes into effect on Friday, requires people to mask up in most buildings open to the public, but not in places such as office buildings. A handful of businesses — restaurants, bars and gyms — are exempt from the rule if they can verify that patrons are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Proposed by Mayor Miro Weinberger last week, the plan drew more than a dozen maskless critics to the special meeting. Many spoke over their allotted two-minute time limit during the meeting's public forum, ignoring Council President Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) as he repeatedly asked them to "please wrap up."
Tags: mask mandate , COVID-19 , coronavirus , Burlington , Burlington City Council , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Released Tuesday, Mayor Miro Weinberger’s proposal would require people to mask up in buildings open to the public unless those establishments can verify that employees and customers have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“We have reached a confusing and uncertain moment in our long battle against the global COVID-19 pandemic,” Weinberger said in a statement, noting that Vermont’s per capita case rate is among the highest in the country.
“In drafting this new mask mandate,” the mayor continued, “the City team has sought to strike a balance with a structure that both protects public health and supports the local businesses we are asking to partner with us on the frontline of our community pandemic response.”
Tags: coronavirus , pandemic , mask mandate , Burlington , Burlington City Council , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Web Only , Image
Friday, November 19, 2021
The project will allow pedestrians to bypass the busy Route 2 and I-89 interchange, where they must use crosswalks to navigate heavy traffic on highway ramps. It'll enable easier and safer walking and biking from the University of Vermont campus and medical center to South Burlington's busy business district along the Dorset Street and Williston Road corridors.
South Burlington officials once envisioned using gondolas as a potential solution for safety issues, but opted for the bridge plan instead.
Tags: I-89 , Sen. Patrick Leahy , gondolas , bridge , burlington , south burlington , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Introduced by Councilor Joe Magee (P-Ward 3), the measure called on Mayor Miro Weinberger's administration to come up with a long-term housing plan for the 40-some campers who lived at the South End site. But before Magee could describe his proposal, Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) argued that it was materially the same as one he had introduced on October 25.
Shannon’s objection touched off a contentious debate between councilors, which ended in a 6-5 vote killing the resolution. The two council independents and four Democrats outvoted the Progressive contingent, which was one vote short of a tie as Councilor Zoraya Hightower (P-Ward 1) was absent.
“I didn't expect when I got elected to this body that I would have to beg people to consider the humanity of our houseless neighbors,” Magee said during the debate. “For us to not have this conversation … will be an abdication of responsibility by this body and complicity in the worst possible outcomes that face the people that live in Sears Lane.”
Tags: Burlington , housing , Sears Lane , homeless , Mayor Miro Weinberger , eviction , city council , Progressives , Web Only , Image
Monday, November 15, 2021
If councilors don’t agree, Weinberger wrote in a memo, he’ll appoint one of the two candidates who met the job’s “minimum requirements” after a monthslong search. Acting Chief Jon Murad, who has served in that role since summer 2020, is one candidate; the mayor hasn’t identified the other. The search resulted in 21 applicants, none of them women.
“Burlingtonians want us to choose a permanent Police Chief from a large and competitive pool of leaders eager to serve our City,” Weinberger wrote in the memo to councilors. “I am prepared to continue working towards this goal if the Council promptly takes the actions I have detailed.”
Tags: Burlington , Burlington City Council , Mayor Miro Weinberger , police chief , search committee , hiring , CNA report , Web Only , Image