Monday, May 21, 2018
The group boarded two buses to scope out the route of the Champlain Parkway, the long-planned, 2.3-mile strip of highway that would connect Interstate 189 to downtown Burlington. The journey was part of a necessity hearing, where property owners whose land would be purchased to make way for the project could voice their objections.
The council's "yes" vote later Monday evening took the city one step closer to completing the four-decade-old project. Construction is scheduled to start in spring 2019.
But it wasn't all business for the councilors, Mayor Miro Weinberger, city and state workers, and a couple dozen members of the public who came along for the ride. From one of the two University of Vermont buses, councilors waved cheerily to a family at a barbecue outside a home on Batchelder Street and convened a brief council meeting on the pavement in front of the Department of Public Works.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Champlain Parkway , Chapin Spencer , Pine Street Coalition , Image , Web Only
Friday, May 18, 2018
Strong winds and heavy rains on May 4 caused sinkholes along the bike path that extends on a former rail line into Lake Champlain.
According to the Colchester town website, local officials have found that the storm also caused structural damage to a bridge on the causeway. The total cost of repairs has been estimated at $563,000.
Tags: Local Motion , bike path , bike ferry , causeway , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Construction began about a month ago, according to Selden Houghton, the railway’s vice president, and will be completed in about another month. Crews cleared trees and brush to make way for the track, which extends from the waterfront dog park through an area known as the Urban Reserve, almost reaching Texaco Beach.
Houghton said he’s unsure how the railway will use the new track. Rails were once there as part of the line to the Champlain Islands, but were removed in the 1980s, he said.
Tags: Vermont Railway , Seldon Houghton , Burlington Bike Path , rail , trains , track , skatepark , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 14, 2018
The Burlington City Council agreed to allow Superintendent of Schools Yaw Obeng to continue living outside of the city — but not before reigniting a lengthy debate about residency requirements.
The council voted 9-3 to extend the residency exemption for Obeng, who settled in South Burlington from Canada when he took the job in 2015. This time the measure extends the residency exemption indefinitely — "as long as Dr. Obeng holds the position of superintendent," according to the resolution.
Some city department heads are required to be Burlington voters, which means they must live in the city. Obeng contended on Monday that his family's suburban setup met the requirements for a "hardship exemption" under city ordinance.
The first vote, when he took the job, triggered controversy as Burlingtonians argued that Obeng should be subject to the same taxes and policies he implements as superintendent. On Monday, some spoke up with similar concerns.
Tags: Yaw Obeng , Joan Shannon , Max Tracy , Jane Knodell , Clare Wool , Brian Pine , Burlington , schools , superintendent , Image , Web Only
January's annual "point in time" event, when volunteers track the number of people spending the night in cars, on the streets or in emergency shelters, tallied 359 homeless people, according to the Chittenden County Homeless Alliance, which released the figures on Friday. That's a 19 percent increase from 2017, when volunteers counted 291 homeless individuals.
The increase comes after the number of homeless people had declined for two consecutive years from a 2015 high of 471. The alliance counted 332 homeless people in 2016.
Tags: Margaret Bozik , homelessness , Community Health Centers of Burlington , Champlain Housing Trust , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Each staff member will lose at least 12 — and up to 17 — days off annually, according to BT spokesperson Abbie Tykocki. The retirement benefits and health care offerings from Schurz are also less generous than employees' current options from the city of Burlington, she said.
During the lengthy sales process last year, "we all had felt or had heard that the benefits [would be] comparable," Tykocki said. In retrospect, she acknowledged, "what the definition of comparable is up for debate." Currently, 24 of BT's full-time 26 employees get benefits through their jobs, she said.
The city offers a pension plan and 24 days off, including federal holidays, as well as a lengthy list of discounts and other perks.
Tags: Burlington Telecom , Todd Schurz , Dave Hartnett , Stephen Barraclough , Schurz Communications , Abbie Tykocki , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
"This kind of stuff happens all the time and we're sick of it," member Kiran Waqar told Seven Days on Monday.
"Being a woman of color, I'm going to be getting all these experiences," said another one of the poets, Balkisa Omar.
Tags: Muslim Girls Making Change , Hawa Adam , Lena Ginawi , Balkisa Omar , Kiran Waqar , Elks Club , Women of UVM , Burlington Police Department , Cathy Morais , Karen Costello , Randy Corey , Moe Decelles , Image , Web Only , Video
Friday, May 4, 2018
In a 3-2 opinion, justices ruled that William Schenk's action did not convey an "imminent threat of harm" as required by the law to support the charge.
Schenk, 21 at the time, told investigators that he was on a KKK recruiting mission and distributed around 50 flyers that read "Join the Klan and save our land." But authorities said he left flyers for just two people: One of the women is African American, and the other identified herself as Mexican, according to court documents.
"The flyer is a recruitment solicitation — its overt message is to join the Ku Klux Klan," former associate justice John Dooley wrote. "It contains no explicit statement of threat. To the extent that it conveys a message of personal threat to the recipient, it is that the Klan will recruit members and inflict harm in the future."
Tags: William Schenk , Vermont Supreme Court , John Dooley , Beth Robinson , free speech , KKK , Image , Web Only
Friday, April 27, 2018
On-air talent was spared and the station has no plans for further job cuts, said Jay Barton, vice president and general manager.
The reductions are part of an effort to make the operation more efficient by training reporters to do some of their own camera work, either on station equipment or cellphones.
“It’s a very different world than it was 10 years ago," Barton said. "This is about adaptation.”
Veteran cameraman Bob Davis was among those who lost his job. The senior photographer found out at 11 a.m. Friday that his 36 years at the South Burlington station were coming to end.
Tags: Media , Burlington , local TV , WCAX , Image , Web Only
A Burlington city council committee has directed Mayor Miro Weinberger to rethink his approach to funding early education programs.
The call came after childcare providers on Thursday criticized the current grant program, which offers money for providers to create more childcare openings, during a meeting of the council's community development and neighborhood revitalization committee.
That Early Learning Initiative, a long-languishing project of Weinberger's, has seen few tangible results, Seven Days recently reported, despite a council-approved infusion of $500,000 in funds last year.
Tags: Jane Knodell , Miro Weinberger , Karen Paul , Noelle MacKay , Sarah Adams-Kollitz , Early Learning Initiative , Image , Web Only