Friday, September 15, 2017
Though school was closed Thursday and Friday, administrators and the Burlington Education Association teachers' union agreed to allow sports teams to play, superintendent of schools Yaw Obeng said. Members of the boys' soccer team petitioned the adults to let the games go on, according to Obeng.
"The homecoming experience is once in a lifetime, " the superintendent told Seven Days on Friday. "This was something they wouldn't get back."
The appeal worked. Coaches who are not teachers will lead the teams.
On Friday, the cross-country team will run in a meet at Essex, while the school will host a boys' soccer game and the varsity football game against rival South Burlington. Field hockey, girls' soccer and volleyball will play on Saturday. All non-varsity games will be rescheduled, the school announced.
Tags: Burlington Education Association , Fran Brock , Mark Porter , Burlington School District , Yaw Obeng , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
All Burlington public schools will be closed Thursday as 400 city teachers begin a strike.
The announcement came after the Burlington Education Association and the Burlington School Board negotiated for nine hours Wednesday in a final effort to avoid a strike.
The board said the union rejected a three-year contract that offered 2 percent raises each year for an average total raise of $6,000 during the life of the contract. The union said it compromised on some of its salary and health care requests, but not on schedule changes, particularly for elementary school teachers.
The labor dispute will put roughly 3,600 students out of school.
Tags: Burlington schools , Burlington teachers strike , education , Image , Web Only
The city will release letters of intent from the four remaining bidders on September 20, and allow nearly four weeks for public comment before selecting a buyer on October 16, Council President Jane Knodell (P-Central District) said at a press conference inside City Hall. A local accountant will also provide an independent analysis of the bids.
The changes will shed light on a process that has thus far taken place behind closed doors.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Brian Lowe , Kurt Wright , Jane Knodell , Karen Paul , Burlington Telecom , Image , Web Only
Friday, September 1, 2017
Burlington’s multiyear effort to redevelop the decrepit Moran Plant is no more.
Mayor Miro Weinberger announced Friday that the city has abandoned its negotiations with New Moran, a group of developers who were working to bring new life to the old coal-fired power plant along the city’s waterfront. Instead, the building will likely be demolished and the site remediated — at a price tag of at least $4 million and upwards of $10.7 million, according to city estimates.
At a press conference Friday afternoon in City Hall Park, Weinberger painted redevelopment as a valiant effort at a Sisyphean task. “What the New Moran team was trying to do was very hard,” he told reporters. “There’s a reason that for more than 30 years this building has remained abandoned and vacant.”
Tags: Moran Plant , New Moran , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Burlington waterfront , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Christopher Lopez is scheduled to appear in Chittenden Superior Court on September 7 to answer to a charge of providing false information to a police officer, a misdemeanor.
Assistant Attorney General John Treadwell, who is handling the case, declined to comment.
Lopez wrote in a sworn affidavit that he could smell "the odor of fresh marijuana emitting" from a car driven by Burlington resident Michael Mullen, 25. He used that to justify a search in October during which he found drugs and paraphernalia.
But Lopez was captured on his body camera telling another officer on the scene that he couldn't smell marijuana and was trying to "get creative" to justify searching the car. Lopez appeared to try to turn off his camera.
Tags: Burlington police , cannabis related , Christopher Lopez , crime , T.J. Donovan , Image , Web Only
Monday, August 28, 2017
David Provost, the Burlington Telecom Advisory Board chair, offered strong signals Monday during a public update on the sale that the co-op may not make it to the final round of the selection process.
"BTAB unanimously expressed serious concerns about the sustainability of KBTL’s financing plan and lack of operating experience," Provost told the audience at a Burlington City Council meeting in Contois Auditorium, after the council spent more than an hour discussing the deal in executive session.
Tags: David Provost , BTAB , Keep BT Local , Alan Matson , Image , Web Only
Friday, August 25, 2017
Michael Reynolds was arrested Saturday after he allegedly punched a Burlington restaurant owner in the chest. Reynolds is a familiar face to law enforcement: the altercation at East West Café was Reynolds's 861st documented incident with police since 2011. The 40-year-old transient appeared in court and was back on the street this week.
Police publicized Reynolds' lengthy criminal record in a press release emailed to local media Wednesday with the subject line, "DRUNKEN MAN ASSAULTS BUSINESS OWNER." But the release left out the fact that Reynolds, who's been arrested 117 times, is schizophrenic, according to a relative who lives out of state.
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Mark Redmond , Michael Reynolds , Adam Roof , Kurt Wright , mental health services , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Michael Reynolds, 40, was arrested on a charge of simple assault after the incident Saturday at the East West Café at North Winooski Avenue and Pearl Street.
Reynolds also allegedly threatened to kill responding police officers and correctional officers at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, Burlington police said in a news release.
Police have made contact with Reynolds nearly 900 times since 2011, including 117 arrests — eight for felony crimes — resulting in 31 criminal convictions. He's also been issued dozens of tickets for infractions such as public urination, trespassing and carrying an open container, according to police.
Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo told Seven Days in a story published Wednesday that Reynolds owes the city nearly $12,000 in fines. The article examines a proposal to create a criminal penalty for those who repeatedly commit civil "quality of life" offenses such as "public drunkenness, fighting and public urination." Unpaid violations affect an individual's credit score — which is little deterrent for those with no income or assets.
"The lack of consequences is a root cause of what is an unfair burden on the rest of the community," del Pozo told Seven Days' Katie Jickling.
According to police, Reynolds was arraigned on the most recent charge and released on pre-trial conditions.
Tags: Burlington , police , Michael Reynolds , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Cindi Wight will take over as director of the Burlington Parks, Recreation & Waterfront department this fall, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced at a press conference Tuesday.
The city chose Wight because of her "deep experience in the field of parks and recreation," Weinberger said.
That's 24 years, to be precise. Wight's résumé includes time as a parks and rec director in the San Juan Islands of Washington State before she headed up the same department in Middlebury. She started in Rutland in 2013.
Wight will replace Jesse Bridges, who served for nearly five years* before stepping down in May to take a position at the United Way of Northwest Vermont.
Tags: Cindi Wight , Dave Hartnett , Jesse Bridges , Burlington Parks and Recreation , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Forty-five people were laid off Tuesday at Dealer.com, one of Burlington’s largest employers.
The layoffs at the Pine Street tech company amount to about a 4 percent workforce reduction, according to company spokeswoman Alison von Puschendorf.
Employees were aware of the looming layoffs. Cox Automotive, Dealer’s parent company, announced plans last week to trim from its 35,000-person worldwide workforce by approximately 3 percent — a total cut of about 950 employees.
The impact on Burlington was unclear until the layoffs Tuesday.
Tags: Dealer.com , layoffs , Burlington , Image , Web Only