Wards 2 & 3 NPA

Wards 2 and 3 Neighborhood Planning Assembly - NOTES Thursday, June 13, 2024, 6:30 - 8:30pm Moderator: Mollie Flanigan Notetaker: Roxanne Meuse Steering Committee members present: Ward 2: Jess Hyman, Mollie Flanigan, Erika Faulkner, Lauren Ebersol, Roxanne Meuse; Ward 3: Amy Francisco, Chris Haessly Attendees: See last page Community events and resources mentioned in this meeting Who shared info Trash grabber lending library! Talk to her any time Lisa Scofield, Ward 2 resident pantheonheart@gmail.com or find her at an NPA meeting :) Ward 3: Opening on the school board Final deadline for Jeannie Walz, school board petitions for school member for Central District board: June 19 Ward 3 needs poll workers https://www.burling Charlie Giannoni, poll worker tonvt.gov/CT/Ward- Clerks-and-Inspector s-of-Election Juneteenth! City’s celebration on https://www.btvreib Phet from REIB Saturday, June 15 .com/juneteenth And notes below Election on August 13: August 13! Emma Mulvaney-Stanak ● State primary (all Burlingtonians) ● Ward 3 only: school commissioner. You’ll get a ballot mailed for the local election, but not the state one. Use the QR code (or click here) to: Email us • Go to our website • Watch meeting recordings on CCTV's website • Connect with us on Facebook or Instagram • Request a time slot with CEDO’s request form • Get to all links related to this meeting  **Ward 2 folks: You’ll vote at the ONE Community Center in August while IAA has construction Burlington Electric has an https://www.burling Ita from Burlington Electric income-based assistance on electricity tonelectric.com/hel bill p ONE Ramble Festival Saturday, July 27th Jeannie Walz 2024 Email the leaders: the.o.n.e.ramble@gmail.com The Wards 2 & 3 NPA Steering Roxanne Meuse Committee needs more NPA members come September - particularly for Email the Steering Ward 2! Committee at wards2and3npa@googlegrou See notes below ps.com 6:30 pm Introductions & Announcements | 10 min 1. Adopt the agenda 2. NPA Steering Committee member introductions 6:35 pm Public Forum | 10 min (2 minutes max per person) ● Andrea Todd: Disappointed in the Parks outreach to the ONE and IAA ● Polly Vanderputten: School updates ● Jean Walz: Opening on school board. Reach out to Jeannie if you want to learn more or want help getting signatures ● Lauren Ebersol: Primaries on Aug 13. If in Ward 2, your polling place will be at the ONE Community Center, not IAA (during construction there). ● Charlie Giannoni: Ward 3 needs polling staff (at Sustainability Academy). Live in Ward 3? Please consider it! https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/CT/Ward-Clerks-and-Inspectors-of-Election ● Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak: Final deadline for petitions for school board: June 19. That election is also Aug 13. All voters of Ward 3 will get a ballot mailed for the local elections, but not the state one. ● Lisa Scofield: Trash grabber lending library is going great! Borrow a trash grabber from her! ● Ita (Burlington Electric): Burlington Electric has an income eligibility rate https://www.burlingtonelectric.com/help ● Meg (works at IAA): At IAA gym, they have a free garage sale, so if you need any free things, it’s tomorrow (Fri 6/14) and Monday, starting at 8am 6:47 pm Recognition of Curt McCormack’s public service | 10 min ● Charlie Giannoni - first remarks covering Curt’s legacy on his neighborhood, city, state, and beyond Appendix to agenda | Wards 2 & 3 NPA - Page 1  ● Jill Krowinski: A lot of former and current legislators are in this meeting - many online, attending from around the state, to partake in this recognition. Spoke of his service in the legislature, his commitment to reducing carbon emissions, and how he may have been the only legislator to not have/use a car! All from the statehouse send our best. ● Mary Sullivan: Served with Curt in 90s and 2010s. Admires him and is inspired by him. He lives his values. ● Carol Ody: Served with Curt for a time. Thank you Curt for everything. ● Gabrielle Stebbins: Curt would ask “Why not?” [audio issues] Thank you Curt ● Andrea Todd: You’ve done so much for our state, and so much for our community, including the NPA. THanks for big picture and community fabric. 7:00 pm Juneteenth Overview | 10 min Phet Keomanyvanh, Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Department ● Federal holiday, is truly a freedom day ● Celebration is Saturday June 15 ● Most events downtown - City Hall/Contois, Church St, BCA ● Lot of local acts, working with local youth ● Marketing: a local BIPOC marketing group ● REIB serves as a curator of the overall program. ● Highlights: Supper Club, gospel brunch, DJs till 11, educational workshops, free haircuts, roller rink - Joy Riders, kids activities, poets, performances ● Brings a lot of economic development, especially for our black and brown artists ● https://www.btvreib.com/juneteenth ● QUESTIONS: ○ Update on Dewey Park? Postponed the opening event since there was a delay in the materials 7:10 pm ONE Ramble Overview and Invitation to Get Involved | 15 min Jeannie Waltz, Ramble Volunteer ● ONE Ramble Festival ● Turning 20! ● Shared some history ● What the Ramble is and what makes the Ramble great! ● The Ramble acts as a “hub” - facilitates/allows people to do their own events during it. On the website, click Host Event. Email the group to learn more ● The long-time organizers are excited by the new stewardship ● It is a not for profit LLC, meaning they need a board, which is: Jeannie Walz, Jennifer, Alicia Taylor ● “The Ramble changes lives, people!” 7:20 pm NPA Steering Committee Overview and Invitation | 5 min Roxanne Meuse, Ward 2 Steering Committee Member ● A call for new Ward 2 and 3 NPA Steering Committee members, starting September 2024. ● See the presentation Appendix to agenda | Wards 2 & 3 NPA - Page 2 7:30 pm Declaration of Inclusion | 10 min Ali Dieng, Former Burlington City Councilor ● Ali gave an overview of the Declaration of Inclusion, modeled after the Vermont Declaration of Inclusion. ● It was clear to Ali that the City signing on was the right thing to do ● VOTE: Passed. No nay votes. 7:35 pm City Councilor update on City Budget | 15 min ● Melo Grant: ○ Encourages everyone to pay attention to what’s going on with budget, encampments, especially how Mayor Emma talks about everything. ○ Encampments: These people have no place to go. ○ Juneteenth coming up with a lot of great events and offerings. ○ Andrew Champagne has registered over 1800 voters ○ Sen CHittenden does not support overdose prevention centers. Email him if you oppose. ○ Birdman: If you have ideas on where to hold onto Birdman’s stuff or how to memorialize, reach out to Melo. ● Gene Bergman: The budget: ○ Roads, sidewalks, parks, firemen are all funded by the budget. ○ The City has a serious budget to overcome. And is not allowed to continue with a deficit. ○ $14 million gap ○ The general property tax is not slated to rise. ○ The police & fire splinter (dedicated) tax was voted on in March - the public approved to raise it by 3 cents. Emma proposes raising it by 2 cents. This type of tax is not income-sensitive (not based on ability to pay). So to cover that difference, looking to add a half-percent tax to rooms & meals tax (so dining out and hotels) ○ And more… ● From Joe Kane (not present): ○ A $500,000 house will see a $100 increase [per month?] ● QUESTIONS ○ Nora: Is there some place to go online to try to digest this more? ■ See attachments from Monday June 13th’s city council meeting: ■ This is what Gene was reading from: https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/7004/files/attachment/4878 ■ There are a lot of docs about the budget. This is another: https://burlingtonvt.portal.civicclerk.com/event/7004/files/attachment/4877 7:50 pm Legislative Session Report Out | 40 min State Representatives and Senators ● In attendance: Jill Krowinski, Martine Larocque Gulick, Brian Cina, Phil Baruth, Tanya Vyhovsky, and ___ ● Jill Krowinski: Listed bills they’ve been working on that were all vetoed by Gov Scott Appendix to agenda | Wards 2 & 3 NPA - Page 3  ○ The gov isn’t supporting good well thought-out climate solutions that this group is trying to push through ● Martine: Yield Bill was one she was championing, as someone who supports public education, and gov scott vetoed it ● Abbey Duke (appointed to replace Emma Mulvaney-Stanak - Chittenden 17): Lives in Ward 7. ○ Joined the Commerce & Economic Development Committee. The Data Privacy bill (also including a piece on kids cyber safety) came from this committee. The gov objected to the provision that allowed “private right of action” which allows people to sue companies, but it was only for really big companies and wouldn’t hit the smaller businesses. ○ Martine: It’s also important from a healthcare aspect. ○ It’s 100 pages long but very important ● Tanya (Chittenden Central): Worked on a restorative justice bill. Gov vetoed because the attorney generals office couldn’t follow thru with it, but the attorney generals office was the first to bring up that we have the votes to overcome the veto. It does want and does have the resources for this bill. ● Phil Baruth: Overdose prevention site bill. Dick Sears died, and he was a vote they need to overcome the veto. So Phil and others are trying to get others on board ○ If you care about Overdose prevention centers, please write a handwritten note to senators who aren’t yet on board. One hand written note is worth 50 online signatures. ● Brian Cina (Chittenden 15): Framed the vetoes from a healthcare perspective. Q&A: ● Jacob Flanigan: Did the school budget stuff prompt any discussions on changing how we’ll do school budgeting in the future? ○ Brian: Teacher healthcare premiums are going up 16% - that’s one of the drivers of costs. A solution to that would be universal healthcare. ○ Martine: One of the ideas floated was to go back to a foundation formula. Our weighting system sees the needs of students. It’s equitable. Act 127 updated those weights for the first time in 20-25 years. Hopes the Yield Bill passes so we can do the work we need. ○ Jill: The commission will be looking not just how to pay, but what is our vision for what a great education system is? ○ Phil (8:20pm - good overview of what happened with the school budget voting): We’ve always been a local control state. Individual districts propose what they need, and voters vote. Then the state adds those up, and creates a tax rate based on that. The state doesn’t set the tax rate, they try to reduce that total. ○ Tanya: We need to have the top 40% of income earners contribute more. Hopes we’ll take that more seriously next year. ● Gene Bergman: Is every Chittenden County senator on board to override the Overdose Prevention Center bill? ○ Thomas Chittenden voted no for the first vote. ○ And we have a new senator - Andy Julow (who was appointed to Dick Mazza’s seat). He’s looking for more info right now. ○ All of the Burlington state reps support OPCs. Appendix to agenda | Wards 2 & 3 NPA - Page 4  ● Charlie G: How would you rate Gov Scott’s communication with senators/reps? ○ Brian (~8:30): Scott shone during Covid, but after that, would rate a D. He’s the second highest paid governor in the country. ○ Jill: We have 1,100 vacancies in govt jobs. So our current state employees are trying to fill in for 2-3 people. So our state govt isn’t able to keep up with phone calls and emails from the public. ● Seems like every bill is being vetoed. Is this unusual? ○ Brian: He set a record. ○ Tanya: Previous record: Howard Dean over 12 years: 21 vetoes. Scott: over 50 vetoes in 8 years. This is seemingly how we do things now. Rule by veto. ○ Phil: We overrode him 6 times last year, which is also historic. He’s out of control, but there’s a check in the system. ● 8:30pm __: Thank you for your presence and point of view. In spite of court system, unhoused, other issues, I’m concerned about accountability. ○ Tanya: Encourages him to watch the whole interview, not just the clip which didn’t accurately depict what she had said. Accountability is important. We did expand a couple judges to the judiciary system. We want to do things that work. including reducing the backlog in the system. addressing mental health, healthcare, etc. Don’t want to respond in a way that we know from decades that doesn’t work. 8:30 pm Adjourn - thank you for coming! Our next meeting is Thursday, July 11. Attendees on next page >> Appendix to agenda | Wards 2 & 3 NPA - Page 5 Appendix to agenda | Wards 2 & 3 NPA - Page 6