Tuesday, May 31, 2016
The work is expected to begin this fall and continue through 2017 at the guard base, which is on land leased from Vermont's largest airport. The city of Burlington owns the airport, located in South Burlington.
The construction will not include the main runway, which military planes share with commercial carriers coming in and out of BTV, according to airport and guard officials.
Tags: Vermont Air Guard , F-35 , BTV , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 30, 2016
The transgender man attacked last week in a homeless encampment off Pine Street has died of his injuries, Burlington police said.
Amos Beede, 38, of Milton, died early Sunday, police said.
Police initially said they were investigating the attack as a possible "bias incident." Police Chief Brandon del Pozo released a subsequent statement:
The deceased was a transgender person who identified as male. The investigation suggests motives on the part of perpetrators independent of this fact. The department has not ruled out the victim's transgender status as a possible additional motive, and will seek to determine what role, if any, it may have played as the investigation continues. Until the attendant facts are clarified, we will continue to view this homicide as a possible bias incident. We will release further information as it develops.VPR reported that police were seeking two "persons of interest" in the case: Erik Averill, 21, and Myia Barber, 23, who were described as local transients.
The Pride Center of Vermont posted a statement mourning Beede's death:
Amos, a resident of Milton, was a well-known figure along Church Street and within the homeless community. "Whenever he came into the Pride Center of Vermont, the first thing he’d do is pet my colleague's dog, Georgia, and give her a big hello," said executive director Kim Fountain. "He was always very cheerful when he came in to visit and spend time with his friends. He was out about being a transgender man and I think he felt at home at the Pride Center."Beede suffered multiple blunt force injuries to his head and face on May 22, police said, resulting in broken bones and a subdural hematoma. The attack occurred near the Barge Canal.
Tags: Burlington police , homicide , homeless , Amos Beede , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Police said they were called to an encampment near the Barge Canal and found a 38-year-old man suffering from head trauma around 11 a.m. The victim, whose name has not been released, was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center and was being treated for facial fractures, a subdural hematoma and several broken ribs, police said.
Police said the initial prognosis was that the victim would recover quickly. But his condition worsened: The man remains unconscious "with the prospect of recovery now uncertain," police said.
Tags: Burlington , crime , homeless , Pine Street , transgender , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 23, 2016
Peter Owens left his post while embroiled in a highly publicized court battle with an elderly woman he tried to evict from an apartment he owns in San Francisco. When he announced his resignation on April 15, Owens said he’d already been planning to step down at the end of June.
Mayor Miro Weinberger tapped Marcy Krumbine, an assistant director at CEDO, to take over as acting director. On May 16, the city council approved his pick for Owens’ permanent replacement: Noelle MacKay will take over in August.
Weinberger is paying Owens $80 an hour to tie up loose ends on the various projects he was leading. The mayor said Owens, who is currently working about 24 hours a week, will likely get a paycheck through the end of August.
Tags: CEDO , Burlington city council , Peter Owens , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 16, 2016
The Burlington City Council voted Tuesday night to grant Noelle MacKay a waiver to the city requirement that says key appointees, including the Community and Economic Development Office director, should be legal Burlington voters, meaning they must reside in the city.
Then all but one member of the 12-person council voted to approve MacKay's appointment as Burlington's new CEDO director, but not without some debate first.
Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) voted against the hardship exemption and against MacKay's appointment. Sharon Bushor (I-Ward 1), Karen Paul (D-Ward 6) and Chip Mason (D-Ward 5) also voted against the hardship waiver, but subsequently voted to confirm MacKay.
Tags: Noelle MacKay , Selene Colburn , Dave Hartnett , Max Tracy , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
A Burlington police officer’s decision to shoot a knife-wielding mentally ill man in March was legally justified, authorities said Tuesday.
Ralph “Phil” Grenon, 76, who was killed, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had stopped taking his medication. Police and his family questioned how treatment providers allowed him to deteriorate without being hospitalized in the months before he was killed.
Police were called to his apartment on College Street on March 2. Grenon was yelling and threatening people. After five hours of attempted negotiations, Grenon approached a team of heavily armed officers inside his apartment swinging two large knives, and was shot.
Tags: Burlington police , Ralph Grenon , T.J. Donovan , Bill Sorrell , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 9, 2016
Weinberger is seeking a "personal hardship" exemption from the city council on MacKay's behalf so she does not have to move from Shelburne to Burlington. Otherwise, MacKay would need to comply within a year with a charter provision that stipulates top appointees must be legal voters in Burlington — for which residency is a requirement.
The mayor also wants to expand such exemptions going forward.
Debate flared about the residency rule last month. Some residents questioned the hardship exemption given to Burlington's new school superintendent, Yaw Obeng, who earns $153,000 and bought a house in South Burlington.
Supporters of the charter provision, including city council president Jane Knodell, say it means that leaders have to live with their decisions and have "skin in the game." Opponents say it's not fair to ask people to move for appointments that might last just a few years, that doing so can limit the pool of qualified applicants and that it doesn't matter where they live anyway.
Seven Days recently found that a number of high-paid city appointees have exemptions. They included former CEDO director Peter Owens, who commuted from a home in Hanover, N.H., and who recently resigned.
In a memo to the council, Weinberger wrote that it would be a personal hardship for MacKay to move to Burlington because she and her husband purchased their Shelburne home in 2012 and "have put significant resources into restoring it." Weinberger added: "If they are required to sell their home in the next year, they are likely to suffer a financial loss."
The mayor also wants the council to approve an amendment to broaden exemptions. The proposal would grant exemptions to appointees who "own and reside in a home in Chittenden County at the time of their appointment and who certify that having to move from that home to become a legal voter of Burlington would cause the appointee's family significant hardship. "
MacKay's appointment confirmation and exemption request will come before the council May 16. She would start work August 1.
In her state position, MacKay oversees a staff of 40 permanent employees and 50 seasonal employees and a department with a $28 million budget. She is the former executive director of Smart Growth Vermont.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Noelle MacKay , Peter Owens , CEDO , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 5, 2016
As Seven Days then reported, the program’s parent organization, the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties, cut programming and three positions after its application for a grant for close to half a million dollars was turned down.
Linda Alderman and Rosie Senna returned to their jobs on April 25, but Thursday was the first day that they were part of the Family Play programming, a day where there’s free on-site childcare and parents socialize or take English classes. The Family Room is a parent-child center that operates at St. Joseph School in the Old North End.
The amount that was needed to reinstate two positions was $70,000. The VNA Family Room parent and community advisory council raised a little more than $80,000, according to Sophia
Tags: Family Room , VNA , Visiting Nurse Association , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 2, 2016
The senators led a panel featuring Gov. Peter Shumlin, Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan, U.S. Attorney Eric Miller, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and others.
Booker, a former mayor of Newark and a darling of the left, introduced a bill last year that would reexamine federal sentencing laws and reduce mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders. Leahy cosponsored the bill.
“If you really look at the data of who we imprison, we are painfully moving away from our values,” Booker said. “We are a nation that treats you better if you are rich and guilty than poor and innocent. Our prison population is overwhelmingly poor ... It is overwhelmingly addicted … It is overwhelmingly mentally ill, and [it includes] victims of trauma and sexual abuse. And it is disproportionately minority.”
Tags: Patrick Leahy , Peter Shumlin , Cory Booker , Eric Miller , T.J. Donovan , criminal justice , Brandon del Pozo , police , drugs , Image , Web Only
Monday, April 18, 2016
In November of 2012, Weinberger sought permission to amend the city's Act 250 permit, which had last been revised in 1994. He wanted to loosen restrictions on when and how often events could occur at Waterfront Park, and to give the city greater control over the park. It's the only municipal park subject to Act 250 regulations. The grassy expanse along Lake Champlain plays host to concerts, food and beverage festivals, regattas, road races and more.
The mayor proposed doing away with a condition that said the park could host events only for a maximum of 27 days between May 27 to September 15, no more than 22 of which could involve amplified music and no more than 18 of which could fall on the weekend. Weinberger also wanted to relax sound restrictions, in part by extending the cutoff time for amplified music to 11 p.m.
At the time, neighbors protested that the noise and traffic was already intolerable.
When the Act 250 commission approved the administration's request, Alison Lockwood, a resident of a brick townhouse next to the park, appealed the decision — first to the Environmental Division of the Superior Court, and then to the Vermont Supreme Court.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , Burlington , Waterfront Park , Vermont Supreme Court , Image , Web Only