Monday, April 21, 2014
Less than two years after he moved his family to a home in Burlington’s Hill Section — and retrofitted the garage into a musical instrument-making shop — Adam Buchwald is selling his South Prospect Street home.
A luthier by trade, Buchwald is bowing out of a battle with his neighbor that dates back to when he and his wife first purchased the spacious, colonial home near the University of Vermont. Barbara Headrick, who lives next door, has been trying to shutter Buchwald's home-based business on grounds that the noise it generates has disturbed her peace.
What began as a zoning dispute has blossomed into a full-blown legal battle scheduled to come before the environmental division of the Vermont Superior Court in late May. But Buchwald, who’s said he expects the conflict to continue whether or not the court rules in his favor, isn’t waiting around. He has insisted all along that the machine sounds emanating from his insulated garage — if audible at all — are too minimal to be a nuisance.
A listing for the four-bedroom, four-bath house appeared on Zillow April 2. After a $40,000 price reduction, the asking price is now $799,000. The Buchwalds purchased the property for $766,000 in 2012.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
When Burlington voters struck down the school budget on Town Meeting Day, the school board was saddled with the unenviable task of trimming it back. Since then, things have gone downhill.
The board is hoping to rally support for a pared-down budget, which is still being developed and is scheduled to go before voters in early June. But several revelations along the way have threatened to undermine residents’ confidence in the school budget’s stewards.
Last week it was the results of an independent audit that exposed a flaw with board’s method for drawing up school budgets, leading to sizeable deficits during the past three years. It turns out, rather than devising a new budget based on the actual spending during the prior year, the board has been using the prior year’s budget as its baseline.
The budget that voters rejected in March would have led Burlington to rack up another $2.5 million deficit in Fiscal Year 2015. The district is already on track to spend $2.5 million more than was allotted in the FY 2014 budget. Miriam Stoll, chair of the finance committee, described the findings as “a very shocking thing to think about.”
Then came the news, broken by the Burlington Free Press Wednesday afternoon, that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is poised to penalize the district for failing to report payroll taxes on time. In an interview with the Free Press, finance director David Larcombe cited as part of the problem the school’s transition to new payroll software.
Tags: burlington school board , school budget , teachers , Image , Web Only
Evidently, not much.
Speaking Wednesday morning at a Waterbury press conference, the gov weighed in on a newly leaked memo outlining a scaled-back approach to increasing health insurance coverage in Vermont. Written by legislative consultant and Emory University professor Kenneth Thorpe, the proposal has been whispered about for weeks in the halls of the Statehouse, but was first publicly revealed Tuesday by Vermont Public Radio's Peter Hirschfeld and Hamilton Davis.
The way Shumlin sees it, there's nothing new or compelling about the alternative plan, which he said was based on "a failed model that hasn't worked."
"It shouldn't surprise us that some folks are taking some old ideas and tunin' them up, puttin' em back on the table," he said.
Tags: Vermont legislature , health care , single payer , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
The conditions were ripe to invoke that deal this year. Republican Kurt Wright (Ward 4) said he had rounded up all seven non-Democratic votes: “I had the ability to be elected. The votes were there.”
But on Monday night, Progressive Jane Knodell (Ward 2) — a longtime friend and political ally of Wright’s — nominated Shannon for a third year at the helm, lauding her dedication and fairness. And she, along with the other four Progressives, Independent Sharon Bushor (Ward 1) and Wright himself, joined in to unanimously reelect Shannon. Shannon described Knodell’s remarks as “so very nice and unexpected.”
Why squander the chance to take control of the council — as the agenda setter, the president can hold significant sway — from the majority? After about a week of behind-the-scenes back-and-forth between the Ds and the non-Ds, Wright said he backed down on the condition that the same deal apply next year.
Tags: Mayor Miro Weinberger , Burlington City Council , Old North End , Burlington Telecom , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
It was the final meeting for councilors Kevin Worden (D-Ward 1), Paul Decelles (R-Ward 7) and Bryan Aubin (D-Ward 4), all of whom had opted not to run for reelection on Town Meeting Day. Fellow councilors, regardless of party affiliation, praised the three men for their wisdom and levelheaded approach to governance. Incoming councilors Selene Colburne (P-Ward 1), Bianka LeGrande (D-Ward 7) and Kurt Wright (R-Ward 4) will replace them.
Jesse Bridges, Burlington's director of parks and recreation, then presented the council with a proposal for the city's first-ever naming policy for its parks and related programs. Bridges was making good on an agreement reached in September 2013 between the city council and the Parks Foundation of Burlington.
The policy gives “prospective donors the opportunity to name, dedicate, or rename Burlington parks’ assets appropriately in return for significant financial contributions.” Playgrounds, dog parks, tennis courts, and other facilities within a park would also be eligible for naming, as would scholarships, events and other park programs. The parks and recreation director and the Parks Commission would have final say on whether naming requests are granted.
Councilors endorsed the policy with a 9-2 vote, but Sharon Bushor (I-Ward 1) and Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) dissented. Bushor said she was concerned about erasing history; she argued for changing the policy to allow for naming new park assets but to preclude the renaming ones that already have an established identity.
Tags: city council , Elihu B. Taft School , burlington school board , jeanne collins , mayor miro weinberger , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 27, 2014
"You know, I'm always hesitant to comment on any of the 180 legislators," the gov said at the Statehouse during his weekly press conference. "You know, they're all great. They're like kids. You don't want to start talking about one, because you hurt the feelings of the other."
Insisting that he "love[s] going out and talking to Vermonters, asking them whether we're on the right track," Shumlin nevertheless said he wouldn't be hitting the campaign trail anytime soon.
"I put off any discussions about what next, who next or why next until Labor Day, or shortly thereafter," he said. "I'd be happy to talk about it after that time, but what I'm going to do, meanwhile, is focus on my job of creating jobs."
Tags: Gov. Peter Shumlin , Rep. Heidi Scheuermann , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
In reference to the high school cafeteria's fire code restrictions, one school official joked, “If anyone asks, we have under 500 people. We aren’t counting.”
The rest of the night, however, entailed a lot of counting. A long procession of teachers — several on the verge of tears — came before the school board, each emptying the contents of a plastic bag on the table next to them. These were the teachers, generally in their first or second year, whose jobs are in jeopardy; their names have landed on the “reduction in force” (RIF) list, which identifies 48 positions that could be cut. The teachers had brought wooden blocks — one for each child they teach — to demonstrate how many youngsters would be impacted by their absence.
“Cutting even one of these teachers will be damaging,” said Megan Fitzpatrick, a second grade teacher at the J.J. Flynn Elementary School. “Cutting dozens will be devastating.”
Tags: Burlington School Board , Jeanne Collins , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Burlington High School , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Mayor Miro Weinberger described this decision as the next big step in the settlement agreement announced in early February. Citibank financed the infrastructure for the city-owned utility, and it went to court two years ago to recoup its debt, demanding that the city pay $33.5 million for the cost of the network.
Two financial institutions — their names have not been disclosed — have offered to furnish the $6 million bridge loan the city needs to secure to move the settlement forward, Weinberger said. City council members held a special meeting Monday night and they spent most of it — about two hours — discussing the two candidates in an executive session.
“That conversation was not fully conclusive,” Weinberger reported at the end to members of the public. “There were some questions that have come up that require additional work on the part of the administration and our consultants before the questions can be fully answered.”
The council is convening a second special meeting on Wednesday, and members expect to make a decision then. As part of the settlement, the city is supposed to file this information by Friday for review by the Vermont Public Service Board.
Tags: Burlington City Council , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Citibank , Burlington Telecom , Image , Web Only
Monday, March 24, 2014
The governor announced on Monday that Louis Porter, his secretary of civil and military affairs, will succeed Patrick Berry in May as commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Berry is leaving the department to become vice president for philanthropy at the Vermont Community Foundation.
"Louis Porter's devotion to Vermont's tradition of hunting and fishing, and to making sure there is continued access to land and water for those that follow that tradition, will serve the department well," Shumlin said in a written statement.
Tags: fish and wildlife , louis porter , patrick berry , vermont community foundation , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Helping two of them along in no small way was a familiar name: Lenore Broughton, the conservative donor who’s channeled large donations to conservative candidates and causes through the Vermonters First super PAC. Broughton gave $1,000 apiece to Scot Shumski and David Kirk, successful candidates in Wards 4 and 7, respectively.
Both men stood out among the school board candidate pool for their opposition to the proposed 2015 school budget, and their criticism of the current board as being ineffective stewards of that spending plan. (Tuesday’s campaign finance filings also show Broughton contributed $10,000 to Vermonters First last August. She also gave $1,000 to the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, which advocated, unsuccessfully, for the defeat of the three gun control items on Burlington's Town Meeting Day ballot.)
Broughton made her contributions to Shumski and Kirk on February 25, one day after the last campaign finance filing deadline leading up to Town Meeting Day. Until then, Shumski had largely financed his campaign through loans he took out and donations under $100; Kirk also took out a loan and he received $790 from Shumski in two installments on February 11 and 19 for a joint ad in the North Avenue News. Contributions made after the February 24 deadline aren't disclosed until two weeks after the election.
Shumski, who raised a total of $2,702 and spent an additional $1,000, unseated Bernie O’Rourke by a wide margin — 1,096 to 558. Shumski said he's been friends with Broughton for more than a decade and he welcomed her generosity. Raising a hefty amount of money was necessary, according to Shumski, given the low-profile nature of school board races and the fact that he was taking on a current member of the board.
"A hard and fast rule about incumbents is that it's difficult to unseat them," he said, adding: "No one was doing any articles on me, and no one was shining the spotlight on me."
Tags: Kurt Wright , Miro Weinberger , Partnership for Burlington's Future , Vermonters First , Burlington school board , Image , Web Only