Thursday, January 12, 2017
One decision came with its fair share of detractors. Applause waned and at least one person booed when Mayor Miro Weinberger asked party members to nominate the incumbent Knodell for the Central District seat after no Democrat volunteered to run for the post.
“In the face of a hijacking of her party, she has stood firm in the belief that expanding economic opportunity [leads to] expanding equity,” he told the crowd, which included 2016 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Sue Minter, Vermont Democratic Party executive director Conor Casey and state representatives.
Tags: Jane Knodell , Joan Shannon , Dave Hartnett , Miro Weinberger , Richard Deane , Burlington Democratic Party , Burlington Progressive Party , Sue Minter , Alan Bjerke , Town Meeting Day 2017 , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
“I may seem disruptive ... but it feels like once again you are oppressing your community and not allowing us to have a voice in the process,” argued Mark Hughes, cofounder of the racial justice organization Justice For All, from the seats of Burlington City Hall Auditorium.
City Council President Jane Knodell struggled to quiet the crowd of about 20 as audience members raised their voices to argue that the new policy proposal hadn’t included enough input from stakeholders and the public.
“This is the just the beginning of the process,” Knodell responded to Hughes as the crowd yelled out dissent. “We can have a whole meeting of public forum on this topic.”
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Eileen Blackwood , Jane Knodell , Dave Hartnett , Joan Shannon , Jay Diaz , Burlington City Council , burlington police , sanctuary city , Image , Web Only
The proposal passed 8-4 Tuesday night after debate about what should and shouldn’t go into the spending plan for the 2017-18 school year. Several board members voted no because they wanted more items to be funded.
The tax increase would translate to $210 on a house assessed at $231,500 for households that do not qualify for income-based tax breaks under the state education funding formula.
Most Burlington households do qualify for the tax break, though, and they would see a smaller increase or in some cases even a decrease. A household earning $50,000 would see a drop of roughly $31 dollars in property taxes, for example, according to projections by the Burlington school district. See updated district projections here.
Tags: Burlington , Burlington School Board , Mark Porter , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Knodell, a Progressive, broke with some members of her party when she voiced her support for the downtown mall redevelopment. That’s put a target on her back for members of the CLC.
Tags: Jane Knodell , Genese Grill , Town Meeting Day , coalition for a livable city , burlington city council , Town Meeting Day 2017 , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 9, 2017
Superintendent Yaw Obeng, Director of Finance Nathan Lavery and Director of Property Services Marty Spaulding presented the details and highlighted the urgent need for the repairs. Delaying the maintenance any longer would allow the current deficiencies to snowball and could result in unplanned emergency repairs or safety issues, they said. Lavery estimated that the new bond would cost a family with a home worth $231,500 an additional $8 a month.
All told, the renovation plan would cost $39 million. The district would fund the remaining $20 million by bonding for $2 million annually over the same 10-year span. Voters in 2009 approved a change that allows the district to bond that amount each year — without putting it on the ballot.
Tags: Yaw Obeng , Nathan Lavery , burlington school budget , Image , Web Only
Sunday, January 8, 2017
The victory earns Winkleman the Prog slot on the ballot and the chance to face Democratic and Republican contenders on Town Meeting Day in March.
Winkleman seeks the seat to be vacated by fellow Progressive Selene Colburn, who has served three years as a councilor. Colburn decided recently to step down from the council after she was elected to the state legislature in November.
Tags: Selene Colburn , Charles Winkleman , Samantha Tilton , Progressive Party , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 6, 2017
It wasn’t until after 8:20 p.m. that Kanarick heard about a Washington Post report, posted 25 minutes earlier, that suggested that the municipal utility had been hacked by Russians. By then the news had already gone viral; Kanarick’s work phone was inundated with calls from unfamiliar numbers. He called back one he recognized: BED general manager Neale Lunderville’s.
Lunderville had gotten wind of the story around 8:15 p.m. He and his wife were at dinner at a friend’s house when Green Mountain Power spokesperson Kristin Carlson called to ask: “Has your electric grid been hacked?”
Tags: Burlington Electric Department , Mike Kanarick , Neale Lunderville , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 2, 2017
Nicholas Cusson-Ducharme had been reported missing around 6 p.m. Saturday. Police said he was last seen early Saturday morning in downtown Burlington. He was reportedly intoxicated and had become separated from his friends, police said in a press release.
Authorities began searching for Cusson-Ducharme on Saturday night but could not find him.
Tags: Burlington , police , Winooski , Intervale Road , Nicholas Cusson-Ducharme , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Lifelong seaman Steve Lobb, who’d planned to spend an entire Vermont winter living aboard his experimental sailboat in Burlington Harbor, called it quits on Monday after enduring last week’s blast of Arctic-like temperatures, subzero wind chills, high waves and iced-over lines.
Lobb, 72, is a retired shipwright from Montpelier who hand-built the 26-foot sailboat, Sled — a hybrid sailboat/sled meant for the Arctic. The vessel can be winched out of the water and pulled across the ice by a dog team or snowmobile.
Tags: Steve Lobb , Sled , Burlington Harbor , U.S. Coast Guard , sailboat , Image , Web Only
Burlington police say anti-Semitic flyers distributed at Burlington City Hall Auditorium before Monday night’s city council meeting were the work of a woman believed to suffer from mental illness.
The woman, whose name was not released, has engaged in similar activity in the past, police said. The flyers will not be investigated as a crime. Instead, police said they will work with the Howard Center’s Street Outreach team to refer the woman for treatment.
The document portrays recent events in Burlington, including the Burlington Town Center redevelopment and the construction of dorms for Champlain College students, as part of a Zionist plot to commit a “White Christian genocide” at the behest of Mayor Miro Weinberger.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Brandon del Pozo , Burlington police , flyer , Contois Auditorium , Image , Web Only