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
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
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
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
The Burlington School Board went back to the drawing board Tuesday night, one week after residents repudiated a budget proposal that would have increased taxes by nearly 10 percent.
It’s been more than a decade since Burlington voters struck down a school budget. As board members tried to sort out their options, it was clear they find themselves in unfamiliar territory.
At times, they sounded like political strategists, analyzing vote counts in various wards. At others, they sounded like marketers, discussing how best to “sell” Budget 2.0. Throughout, they sounded like people backed into an uncomfortable place.
“I didn’t get on our school board to decimate our schools,” said Meredith Woodward King (Ward 2). “I feel very uncomfortable in this position.”
In a memo to board members, Superintendent Jeanne Collins, wrote: “Given that 77% of our expenses are personnel related, reductions of personnel in a variety of programs and services must be made in order to meet the goals above.”
“Tweaking around the edges will not meet the goal,” the memo continued, “as there is not much left to tweak.”
Tags: Burlington school board , Jeanne Collins , Image , Web Only
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Each weekday, Seven Days scans the news across the Vermont media landscape to find the smartest, best and most compelling stories. We bundle them up in an email and send them out to our subscribers early each afternoon. It's called the Daily 7.
So which Vermont news stories are you reading? And which should you be reading? Here are the stories you clicked on most from this week's editions of the Daily 7:
Lesbian Couple Sues Town for Discrimination, Intimidation
By David Charns, WPTZ — Wednesday, March 5
A couple in Addison says neighbors and town officials have harassed and discriminated against them because they're lesbians.
CCTA to Shut Down All But Two Routes Monday — If Drivers Strike
By Mark Davis, Seven Days Off Message — Thursday, March 6
Two commuter routes will run on a limited schedule if CCTA drivers go on strike Monday. All others would stop operating.
Tags: Senator , drugs , bennington , ccta , burlington , chittenden county , lgbt , town meeting day 2014 , bernie sanders , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
But this wasn't your run-of-the-mill building project: The proposal, which had the backing of the majority of Middlebury's selectboard, calls for a complicated land swap with Middlebury College and generated considerable debate before Town Meeting Day.
The town is handing over the location of its current town offices, in exchange for property a stone's throw away at 77 Main Street. The town will now take out a $6.5 million bond to fund construction of new town offices at 77 Main, as well as new recreation facilities on Creek Road.
But the town won't be on the hook for the entire amount. The college is promising to pay $4.5 million of the debt, and to chip in an additional $1 million for relocation and demolition costs.
Also on Tuesday, Middlebury voters ousted selectman Craig Bingham from the seven-member board. Bingham was the lone voice of dissent on the board against the town office plan.
It's a plan that supporters spun as a win-win for the town and college; the college will turn the current site of the town offices into a public park, which will double as a more attractive entrance to the college campus proper. The college's financial contribution, in turn, is subsidizing the cost of new offices and rec facilities that officials say taxpayers couldn't otherwise afford.
Tags: Middlebury , Addison County , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Council Chairwoman Pam Mackenzie's victory over two challengers in a race for a three-year seat ensures that the more conservative faction will retain its 3-2 majority. At the same time, Meaghan Emery's successful bid for a two-year seat will keep the more liberal minority at its current strength.
Emery, a former councilor, picked up 1,512 votes to the 1,439 won by her opponent, commercial real-estate agent Mike Simoneau. Mackenzie fell short of the 50 percent mark in her bid for re-election but still won comfortably, gaining 1,427 votes to 1,090 for Planning Commission Vice-Chair Tracey Harrington and 429 for former councilor Paul Engels.
Simoneau, a political ally of Mackenzie's, said the council chairwoman should not interpret her victory as a mandate. Emery agreed, suggesting, “A wise councilor will take heed” of the voters' refusal to give Mackenzie a majority of their votes.
Tags: South Burlington , Image , Web Only
For the first time in more than a decade, Burlington voters rejected the school budget put before them. There were murmurings, leading up to Town Meeting Day, that the mounting frustration among property tax payers might finally take its toll at the polls.
The speculation proved true: by a margin of nearly 700 voters, the $66.9 million budget proposed for fiscal year 2015 failed.
"I’m disappointed," said Burlington superintendent, Jeanne Collins. "But," she continued, "I feel that’s the democracy in voting. The message to the school district and the school board is that we need to reevaluate our programs and determine what is affordable. It’s important to listen to that message."
The budget itself was proposed to increase by just under 4 percent. But due to other factors in the statewide education finance system, the tax rate for Burlington property owners was forecast to rise almost 10 percent.
Tags: Winooski One , Burlington Electric Department , Moran Plant , Image , Web Only
Hollar, first elected in 2012, retained his seat by a 1,525-782 vote.
The race for the part-time, $3,000-a-year position became unusually heated in the capital city, thanks to a long-running dispute between the incumbent and the challenger. Hallsmith was ousted from City Hall last November and claimed that Hollar pressured City Manager Bill Fraser to fire her in order to squelch her advocacy for public banking. Hollar works as a Statehouse lobbyist for Downs Rachlin Martin and represents Bank of America and Wells Fargo, among other clients.
Tags: Montpelier , John Hollar , Gwendolyn Hallsmith , Image , Web Only
On Town Meeting Day, the two wards in Burlington's New North End — 4 and 7 — played host to the most action-packed races for city council seats.
Both Republican candidates — Kurt Wright in Ward 4 and Tom Treat in Ward 7 — made the case that if they weren’t elected, the party would lose its presence on the council. In Wright’s case, that argument — or possibly his long experience in public life — proved compelling. Wright edged out Carol Ode, a Democrat who served on the school board in the past but was making her first run for city council.
Wright received 1,089 votes to Ode's 709. A third candidate, Loyal Ploof, received 26 votes.
For Treat, the message appears to have had less traction — Ward 7 voters opted for Democrat Bianka Legrand, who gained 768 votes to Treat's 682. Legrand, who came to Burlington at age 17 as a refugee from Bosnia Herzegovina, said she was running to promote a strong community in Ward 7. Neither Legrand nor Treat had run for a council seat before. Legrand said of the outcome, "I think it indicates resident of Ward 7 are more than ready for some change." Her first step, she said, will be to sit down with other councilors and get up to speed on the issues.
Democrats depicted the two New North End races as a possible bellwether event, suggesting that if Ode and Legrand triumphed, it would signal the neighborhood is drifting leftward.
Treat said he was grateful to his volunteers, and attributed the vote's outcome to insufficient turnout. "While many people did come out for me, enough of them seemed to stay home."
Tags: Kurt Wright , Carol Ode , Max Tracy , Bianka Legrand , Tom Treat , Rachel Siegel , New North End , Image , Web Only