FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2019
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
                (802) 734-0617

Mayor Weinberger, Head Start, and Burlington Housing Authority Break Ground on New High-Quality Child Care Center in Old North End

City’s Early Learning Initiative Helps Leverage Federal Funds to Increase Access to Child Care for Burlington Residents; New Center to Begin Operations in Fall 2019

Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger and community leaders today broke ground on a new, high-quality child care center in the Old North End, which is the result of a collaboration between CVOEO & Champlain Valley Head Start, Burlington Housing Authority, and the City of Burlington’s Early Learning Initiative (ELI). The new center will create 23 total child care spots, made up of 15 spots for children ages three to five years old in the fall of 2019 and eight additional spots for infants and toddlers in the fall of 2020.

These new spaces add to a total number of additional spots that ELI has made possible, including those currently being developed at the YMCA and Sarah Holbrook Community Center. If the City Council approves the second year slate of capacity grants at its June 24 meeting, the Burlington Early Learning Initiative will have supported the the creation of 85 new child care spaces in Burlington since 2018, 70 of which will be infant and toddler spaces. These 85 new spaces will be coming online over the next 18 months.

The Mayor was joined at the groundbreaking by City Councilor Brian Pine (Ward 3), Burlington Housing Authority Director of Properties Chris Barrett, Champlain Valley Head Start Executive Director Paul Behrman, Let’s Grow Kids CEO Aly Richards, and Brian Lowe, the City’s Chief Innovation Officer and person who oversees the ELI program.

“The creation of a new child care center in an underserved area of the City is precisely what we hoped to generate when the City began its Early Learning Initiative in 2015,” said Mayor Weinberger. “It is exciting to see this innovative municipal initiative making a real impact, and significantly expanding the number of spaces available for Burlington families who need child care.”

“Champlain Valley Head Start (CVHS) is delighted at this incredible opportunity to better serve children and families in this section of Burlington’s Old North End,” said Paul Behrman. “With support from Burlington Housing Authority, the City’s Early Learning Initiative, and the federal Office of Head Start, the new CVHS facility will increase our capacity to provide high-quality, early care and education services for children ages birth to five, coordination of children’s health services, and social service support for families. We hope to see the new Head Start center become a source of joy and support, and add to the quality of life in the community.”

“Affordable child care has been a struggle since I raised my kids in this neighborhood, and I’m glad to see an outstanding program like Head Start planning to open its doors here in just a few months,” said Ward 3 City Councilor Brian Pine. “The City is taking some forceful steps to address a long-standing problem, and I’m pleased to support the Mayor on this effort.”

“Let’s Grow Kids is honored to partner with the City of Burlington on the Early Learning Initiative and we commend Mayor Weinberger’s leadership and focus on this crucial issue,” said Aly Richards, CEO of Let’s Grow Kids, which helped the City design the Early Learning Initiative and provides critical technical support for the project. “We know now that early childhood is our best chance to create the ultimate level playing field. Burlington’s ELI project is an example of the kind of determination and innovation we are going to need to solve our state’s child care crisis. The lessons we learn here will help us hone the statewide solution our children need and deserve.” Let’s Grow Kids is a statewide movement working to achieve affordable access to high-quality child care for all Vermont families by 2025.

CVOEO/Champlain Valley Head Start is one of four organizations selected to receive a capacity grant this year, which the City will bring before the City Council to consider on Monday, June 24. The CVOEO/Champlain Valley Head Start proposal leverages $90,849 in City funding and $249,000 in federal funds to renovate an existing building in an area of the City without sufficient child care options.

The City’s Early Learning Initiative is made up of two pieces: One, capacity grants to assist organizations with creating new high-quality child care spots in Burlington, and two, the First Steps Scholarship Program to connect children from low-income families with that care and new capacity. The City has developed this approach in response to input from a wide range of community stakeholders, and with it, is implementing a multi-pronged solution to tackle a many-layered problem. ELI is funded through existing City resources from payment-in-lieu of taxes (PILOT) funds, and does not increase the City’s operating costs.

The following sections provide detail on the proposed 2019 grants, an update on the pilot year of the ELI First Steps Scholarship Program, and background on the ELI effort.

Capacity Grant Program

This is the second year of the capacity grant program. Last year, the City awarded grants to seven child care providers to strengthen and expand high-quality child care opportunities in Burlington for children from birth to three years old as part of a process that incorporated substantial public feedback and adjustments.

This year, $210,000 in capacity grants will support the creation of at least 23 new spots.

The four grants for FY2019 that the City Council will consider at its June 24 meeting are as follows:

• New High-Quality Child Care Center in the Old North End: Proposed by the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) and Champlain Valley Head Start (CVHS) in cooperation with the Burlington Housing Authority, this project would use a combination of City and Federal dollars to create a new, high-quality child care center at 216 Intervale Ave. (part of the 669 Riverside Ave. complex). The project would bring 15 spots for children ages three to five years old online in September 2019, and eight infant and toddler spots online in the fall of 2020 in an underserved area of the City. The City is proposing awarding $90,849 to support the fit-up costs of this new site. The Office of Head Start will supply an additional $249,000 in federal funds for the renovation, and BHA is providing substantial in-kind contributions including site work, legal review of the lease terms, and assistance with advancing the project through the City’s development review process.

• Preservation and Foundation for Future Expansion: The second grant proposed is a preservation grant made to Burlington Children’s Space (BCS) in the Old North End. Last year, the City awarded BCS $75,000 to support BCS’s purchase of their building and the retirement of a balloon debt payment. The acquisition substantially reduces BCS’s annual operating costs and gives the center greater flexibility to expand in the future. Over the past year, at the encouragement of the Grant Committee as a requirement of the first $75,000 in support, BCS completed an intensive business planning process that helped improve the organization’s operating profile, support the building acquisition, and support increases in teacher pay. In combination with increases in the State child care financial assistance program and potential new revenues from the City scholarship program, BCS’s prospects are even brighter and the possibility of future expansion is more realistic.

• Adapting, Strengthening, and Laying the Groundwork for Future Expansion: The third grant addresses a critical need for Pine Forest Children’s Center and galvanizes an important expansion project. Situated in the South End, Pine Forest serves a diverse population of families, a high percentage of whom are eligible for child care financial assistance. The center is currently bursting at the seams and watching their parking lot become busier and less conducive to child care. The new City Market and expanding businesses have brought more traffic to the area and with it concerns of child safety and access to crucial outdoor play. Pine Forest has partnered with a third party and secured a signed Memorandum of Understanding to explore an expanded program at a nearby property in the same area of the City.  The proposed $20,000 grant will provide the center with necessary funds to develop architectural drawings for a new building and begin capital campaign fundraising. This grant would assist one of the few South End centers as plans its expansion to serve more Burlington families.

• Leveraging New Resources with an Innovative, Complementary Program: A City department is coming in for the fourth capacity grant this year, looking to expand the City’s early childhood education reach. The Fletcher Free Library (FFL) has requested $17,332 to expand their established Early Learning Outreach Program (ELOP), with an additional $30,500 leveraged from private donations. This literacy program travels to 0-3 STAR rated home-based child care centers offering modeling, respite, support and encouragement to the home care providers. The evidence-based enrichment curriculum reaches a population not directly engaged by other ELI efforts, and expands the City’s reach into the early learning realm. Employees and trained volunteers have already reached 40 children and 7 providers with the goal of doubling the reach in the coming year. The program is designed to introduce new families to the library while at the same time strengthening provider resources and improving STAR ratings.

The Grant Committee, listed in alphabetical order below, is composed of community members and representatives from different organizations with various perspectives on early childhood education.

• Kristin Fontaine, Pediatric Outreach Coordinator, University of Vermont Medical Center
• Phelan Fretz, Executive Director, ECHO Leahy Center
• Brian Lowe, Chief Innovation Officer, City of Burlington
• Sarah Muyskens, Parks Foundation Board Member
• Brian Pine, City Councilor and Chair of the Council’s CDNR Committee
• Becca Schrader, Business Resource Manager, Vermont Community Loan Fund

First Steps Scholarship Program Update

The second part of ELI is the First Steps Scholarship Program, which focuses on connecting low-income Burlington children with high-quality child care. The Council reviewed and approved the budget and program for the ELI First Steps Scholarship Program in March 2019.

Since that approval, the City has completed an application process that opened on March 1, 2019 and closed April 26, 2019. In the pilot year of the scholarship program, the City’s aim is to provide one-year scholarships to about 20 Burlington children, focusing on those children born between August 31, 2017 and July 1, 2019. Currently, the City and Let’s Grow Kids have secured spots for all 18 eligible applicants and are now working to make sure the spots match the families’ needs. The City also plans to re-open the application process for a slightly broader age range and build a waiting list of families interested in accessing additional spaces that may become available during the year. Building on what is learned in the pilot year, the City plans to refine and expand the program in future years.

The pilot year of the First Steps Scholarship Program is an exciting and welcomed challenge. Outreach, communication, and flexibility have proven to be key. Based on the results of this pilot year and the evaluation process being developed with Let’s Grow Kids, key community stakeholders, and a local economist, the City intends to leverage additional funding from other private, institutional, and public sources to provide scholarships for high-quality early care to young children living in poverty to expand the impact and public returns of the ELI effort.

Early Learning Initiative Background

Through this innovative municipal initiative, the City aims to address the opportunity gap that is faced by low-income children across the country and also here in Burlington. Research has consistently shown the benefits of investments in early childhood education, which lead to improvements in a wide range of social, economic, health, and education-related outcomes. However, there are many barriers to the access and affordability of high-quality care, one of which is simply that there are not enough spaces available. The City’s research has shown that though about 350 children are born in Burlington each year, fewer than 200 child care spaces are available for children from birth through age three.

As access to and affordability of high-quality childhood education has been identified as a critical issue nationwide, cities around the country have been leading the way in developing solutions. At the same time, the Burlington Early Learning Initiative is unique nationally in its focus on infants and toddlers, and aims to address the particularly severe shortage of high-quality and affordable early care and learning spaces for children from birth through age three.

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Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger released the following statement in response to the State dismissing charges against Aita Gurung and Louis Fortier:

“Two recent murder cases involving Aita Gurung and Louis Fortier have been dismissed because the State did not have sufficient evidence to rebut their insanity defenses. On the heels of these decisions, the State must do everything within its power and jurisdiction to ensure the safety of Burlingtonians and prevent these individuals from returning to our streets and neighborhoods. Burlingtonians reasonably expect to be protected from those who have committed violent offenses.”

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Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger released the following statement in response to the May 31, 2019 shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center:

“On Friday in Virginia Beach, 12 innocent Americans were murdered and four others were wounded in yet another shooting rampage. This mass shooting hits close to home, as nearly all the victims were municipal employees diligently working on a Friday afternoon to complete the tasks that keep a community prosperous and healthy. We mourn for these municipal colleagues and the contractor, wish the Virginia Beach community the strength needed to endure this terrible tragedy, and hope for full recoveries for the wounded.

“No other peer nation tolerates such mass killings from gun violence, and America must not either. The lack of any meaningful response from our federal government to these continued massacres is terrible and plain wrong. It must not continue. Gun safety must be a central issue every time voters go to the polls.”

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Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger today announced that Executive Director of the Church Street Marketplace Ron Redmond is stepping down from his position, after more than twenty years of service to the City. Redmond’s innovative tenure included helping to launch the Street Outreach Program and create the downtown’s community policing program, building a robust marketing and market research program, and sustained economic health and vibrancy through stabilizing the department’s operating budget. 

“For over thirty years, the Church Street Marketplace has been one of the Northeast’s great urban places,” said Mayor Weinberger. “For more than half of that history, the Marketplace has been run with skill and good will by Ron Redmond. I am grateful for Ron’s service to the City and the Church Street Marketplace, helping to grow and strengthen the Marketplace as a downtown destination for residents and visitors.”

“Serving the City and the Marketplace for over two decades has been a privilege,” said Redmond. “Burlington’s downtown will always hold a special place in my heart and I am looking forward to taking on new challenges.”

“The Church Street Marketplace Commission is grateful to Ron for his years of service to the Marketplace,” said Jeff Nick, chair, Church Street Marketplace District Commission. “Ron has shepherded the Marketplace through a changing and challenging retail environment and helped make Church Street a premier shopping and cultural destination for Vermonters, and New Englanders. While the Commission is sad to see Ron go, we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Redmond has agreed to stay in his position as Executive Director until December 1, 2019 to ensure a smooth transition to a new director. The Church Street Marketplace Executive Director is appointed by the mayor with the confirmation by the City Council.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2019
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
                (802) 734-0617

Mayor Miro Weinberger Appoints Luke McGowan as the Director of the Community and Economic Development Office

Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger today announced the appointment of Lukas McGowan as the Director of the Community and Economic Development Office. Luke brings extensive experience in community organizing and economic development to the position. Mayor Weinberger will ask the City Council to consider confirmation of the appointment at its June 3 meeting.

“Luke’s experience with community organizing and bringing together stakeholders to move projects forward makes him well positioned to be the next leader of CEDO,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “I am looking forward to working with Luke and building upon the entrepreneurial spirit of CEDO and its history of making Burlington a welcoming, livable, and inclusive city.”

Luke will bring many strengths to the CEDO Director role, including:

• Extensive experience as both a public sector and private sector manager;
• Track record of successfully bringing diverse groups together to accomplish important goals; and
• Background working to help small businesses and entrepreneurs succeed.

Background
Luke started his career as a community organizer for the Obama primary campaign in Iowa in 2007. He then served as a Regional Field Director in Northern Virginia during the general election in 2008. After the successful election, he served in the Obama Administration, first as a writer for Vice President Joe Biden and later in a leadership position in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. In these roles, Luke built coalitions, worked with many partners, and managed large teams. He worked on a diverse set of issues including climate change and energy policy, health care reform, and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Luke then moved to the private sector, where he helped to build Thumbtack, a startup that supports hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs and small businesses, grow from ten employees to 400 employees during his time with the company. Luke managed the growth of Thumbtack’s small business customer base, worked with large teams to implement new features, and collaborated with mayors and governors around the country to support small business owners.

When he moved to Vermont, Luke launched his own consulting company, Dirt Road Consulting, which helps businesses and nonprofits grow and reach new potential. During this time, Luke also served as the U.S.-based venture partner for Mustard Seed, a social and environmental impact venture fund.

Luke moved to Vermont to be closer to family, and currently lives in the Upper Valley with his wife and one-year-old son. He attended Columbia University and holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

“I am excited to return to public service in the role of CEDO Director for the City of Burlington,” said Luke McGowan. “I look forward to relocating to Burlington and serving the City and its residents.”

Building on Past Success at CEDO
Luke will lead a department with many recent successes, including:

• Building public-private partnerships, including the new 194 St. Paul Street Champlain College housing, the newly built Community Sailing Center, the Burlington Harbor Marina;
• Rebuilding the Northern Waterfront and Skate Park;
• Expanding youth programs, including creating the City Hall Internship and the My Brother’s Keeper programs; and
• Administering $500,000 of entrepreneurial support grants funded by the Kauffman Foundation to Mercy Connections, Center for Women and Enterprise, Generator, and the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The department also has ambitious future goals, including:

• Implementing its recently developed strategic plan, with the vision of making Burlington the most livable, just, and connected community in America by empowering individual voices in the life of our City, fostering healthy neighborhoods and housing choice, and advancing people-centered development;
• Embedding a comprehensive, citywide civic engagement strategy into all departmental initiatives;
• Boosting the Housing Trust Fund to strengthen low- and middle- income housing efforts;
• Sparking the construction of accessory dwelling units through the reduction of regulatory barriers;
• Redeveloping the Moran plant into a public park; and
• Seeking partnerships with organizations and businesses to advance social equity in the community.

Search Process for the New CEDO Director
Before beginning the search process, Mayor Weinberger met with CEDO staff, City staff, and community stakeholders to help determine what was needed in the next CEDO Director. For this search, we were specifically looking for someone who could support and manage CEDO and its broad set of responsibilities, which include housing policies, economic development and job training initiatives, social service programs and the City’s homelessness initiatives, diversity and equity initiatives, administering Tax Increment Financing districts, community justice, and several mature federally funded grant programs, including the LEAD program, the City’s AmeriCorps program, and the Community Development Block Grants.

The search began in February 2019. The process included:

• Posting the position locally, state-wide, and nationally, as well as targeting diverse communities and conducting supplemental recruitment efforts through the Mayor’s Office;
• Reviewing resumes that met the minimum requirements and initial interviews of both Vermont and out-of-state candidates by a search committee, which included:
  • Kim Anderson, Director of Communications at the Community Health Centers of Burlington
  • Patrick Brown, Director of the Greater Burlington Multicultural Resource Center
  • Will Clavelle, CEDO Economic Development Specialist
  • Rachel Jolly, CEDO Assistant Director, Community Justice Center
  • Neale Lunderville, former Interim Director of CEDO
  • Deanna Paluba, Director of Human Resources
  • Brian Pine, Ward 3 City Councilor
  • Jordan Redell, Mayor’s Chief of Staff
• Interviewing two finalist candidates recommended by the search committee; and
• Inviting Luke for a third round of interviews in Burlington, which included meetings with the CEDO Leadership Team, Department Heads, and representatives from the Greater Burlington YMCA, Family Room, Community Sailing Center, Vermont Housing Finance Agency, AALV, Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Burlington Business Association.

At the conclusion of the search, Luke’s passion for community organizing, experience with team building, and support for small businesses and economic development demonstrated that he was an excellent fit for this position.

For additional information about Luke McGowan, please see:

• Resume and cover letter of Luke McGowan
• Memo from Mayor Weinberger to City Council regarding appointment of Luke McGowan
• Below photo of Luke McGowan, Mayor Weinberger, and Interim CEDO Director David E. White at press conference on May 28, 2019 announcing Luke's appointment

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      
May 20, 2019
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
                (802) 734-0617

Get Involved: Participating Locally Will Be Good For You, Your Home, and Your Country

Delivered by Mayor Miro Weinberger at the University of Vermont Honors College Commencement Ceremony, May 18, 2019

Burlington, VT  –  On Saturday, May 18, Mayor Miro Weinberger delivered the following address to graduates at the University of Vermont Honors College Commencement Ceremony:

Good afternoon! Congratulations on your imminent graduation. Congratulations to each of you on successfully completing the Honors College program. I am quite excited to be with you here today. 

One of the reasons for that is that I appreciate having the opportunity in this setting to acknowledge President Sullivan’s service. He and I started within weeks of each other in 2012. The first time we met he told me that he believed that the City of Burlington was one of the key things that made UVM a great university. He has put action behind those words as we have worked through a number of challenges together. This has been a collaborative period in Burlington-UVM relations that I believe has been good for both institutions. Tom, thank you for your service to this community and I wish you and Leslie all the best in your future endeavors.

While I did not attend UVM, I have long been a big fan of the Honors College and have developed quite a few connections to it over the years. One of the first people I hired as mayor, Jen Kaulius, was a 2012 Honors College graduate and now has a big job at the UVM Medical Center. Your Dean David Jenemann and I have known each other for many years and collaborated on so many things that he even allows me to use his baseball glove in the old man’s hardball league we play in together.

And if being asked for the first time to make a graduation speech isn’t enough to make someone feel old, the fact that I have known one of your graduating Honors College classmates – the wonderful May Albee – since she was born certainly does.

Moreover, it seems fitting to be with you today because I don’t think there would be a graduating class in the country much interested in what I have to say without the work of UVM Honors College students.

I mean this quite literally. In my first campaign, in 2012, we had 20 campaign interns who were Honors College students. For months, virtually every room in our house, just on the other side of the green here, was filled with students day and night making voter ID calls, stuffing envelopes, writing Facebook posts, creating walk lists, and more. Those 20 interns and volunteers influenced the outcome of that election, and without them, you would be hearing from a different speaker today.

Since that time, the UVM student movement has impacted Burlington much more broadly than just one mayoral election. You, the 2019 Honors College graduates, have been a big part of it. After many years in which UVM student involvement in local elections was minimal, during your years, students re-emerged as a major voting block. Here is a stat that shows how dramatic this student awakening has been: In 2015, my second election, a total of 277 people voted for Mayor in Ward 8, which is largely a student ward. By 2018, that figure more than tripled to 859.

As a result, the involvement of students in our local politics has had a large impact on our City decisions. In recent years, we have been able to approve the largest downtown investment project in the City’s history, increase eight-fold the amount of homes we are building in the City, and set and start to meet perhaps the most ambitious climate goals of any community in the country. A big part of why this has all happened is that the UVM Class of 2019 and your contemporaries saw a connection between these issues and your future, and weighed in at the ballot box on numerous votes.

Beyond this thank you, my first message to you is an invitation, a plea really, to stay here in Burlington beyond tomorrow. I hope every one of you is graduating with a sense that this City has contributed something positive and meaningful to your college experience. As a city and as a state, we need more of you to give back to this place by choosing to make Burlington your home for the long-term. For the 75 percent or so of you whose next step is elsewhere, we are not giving up on you: Come back and visit, and keep this wonderful place in your heart until you are able to return.

My second and main message to you, and one that I think the voting total information I just shared suggests you are open to and may be already acting on, is an appeal for your time: No matter where you land next, get involved with your local community as soon as possible. Over the coming years, as you are embarking on your careers, perhaps getting additional degrees or starting families, and maybe moving frequently, local engagement may feel periphery and easy to postpone. A local government professor of mine in graduate school captured this sentiment, saying in class one day, “it is easy to spend your whole life thinking you are just passing through.”

Don’t. Start showing up for local groups and initiatives as soon you unpack. Getting involved locally can have a huge impact on your own personal and professional life, on the community you make home, and even on the future of this country.

Here is how this worked for me.

I grew up here in Vermont in the 1970s and 1980s and left the state for college. Afterwards, contradictory to the plea I just made to you, I wasn’t yet ready to come back to the state, and I lived up and down the East Coast through my twenties. I never stopped thinking of myself as a Vermonter though, and I moved back to Burlington with my wife in the summer of 2002.

About two weeks after we got here, I received a phone call. It was Luke Albee on the phone, May’s dad, who I knew from my time as a Senator Leahy intern, and he asked me to run the state senate campaign of a candidate the Democrats had just recruited. I did, she won, and soon after I became the volunteer County Chair of the party and worked on dozens of other state legislative campaigns, and later a mayoral campaign. By the time I chose to run myself about a decade later, I knew a lot about how to win Vermont campaigns.

Everything else I got involved with in those years ended up having a surprisingly large impact on my life as well. Because I served as a volunteer airport commissioner, I had a front-row view of city activities and knew both that we needed new leadership, and that I could do the job. Serving on the board of ECHO dramatically expanded my relationships with Burlington community leaders, and serving on the board of the Turning Point Center, an addiction recovery group, gave me knowledge that I would later draw on as I guided Burlington’s response to the opioid crisis as mayor. It turns out that, at least for me, these involvements, which seemed then like contributions to others of my spare time, turned out to be both greatly enriching, and building blocks of my life here in Burlington.

As you consider what to invest your volunteer time into, I do encourage you to think about local government. To a degree that I did not grasp before I was elected, a successful city is built on the efforts of countless volunteers. Our small city has over 40 volunteer boards and commissions that contribute to the management of Burlington. This shows up in other ways, too: Tomorrow, we expect hundreds of volunteers to come out and plant trees in a natural area in the south end that we are trying to restore. As mayor, I pull together teams of unpaid advisors to consult with on almost every major decision. It definitely takes a village to run a village.

These volunteer efforts all contribute greatly to the quality of our local government, and I expect that you will find in life that the competence and capacity of your local government has a major impact on your home and quality of life, and indeed, likely more impact than any other level of government. Perhaps this should be an obvious point given the scope of what local government is responsible for: Here in Burlington, the City does everything from providing the water for your faucets and the electricity for your lights, to ensuring public safety, to running the airport, to supporting much of Burlington’s arts activity. Yet, somehow, I think effective and visionary local governance is something that many of us take for granted.

As mayor, I am highly aware that we get to live and enjoy today the dreams of our civic leaders of generations past. We get to bathe and barbeque at North Beach because 100 years ago, City leaders converted a farm into a beach for the soldiers returning from World War I. We can watch the sun setting over the Adirondacks from a swing on the waterfront boardwalk today because for more than 50 years, the City’s mayors have worked to remove oil tanks and other post-industrial debris. We can eat al fresco on Church Street today because a handful of civic leaders in the 1970s had the audacity to kick cars off the City’s main commercial street. And at those Church Street tables, we enjoy wholesome, farm-to-plate meals because my parents’ generation dreamed up food co-ops, farmers markets, and healthy meals for school kids.

Finally, another reason to get involved at the local level is that cities frequently serve as true laboratories of public innovation for the challenges of our time, even for challenges that are national in scope.

To make this point I would like to share a current initiative that we are working on, both as an example of this important truth, and because lives will be saved when more communities adopt the strategies that Burlington has pioneered. The example I’d like to share with you is the story of Burlington’s response to the opioid crisis.

While the opioid epidemic has hit the country unevenly, it is clearly a nationwide problem. A professor at Washington State, Gary Franklin, has called it “the worst man-made epidemic in history.” We are currently losing more than 70,000 Americans every year to drug overdose deaths, a figure greater than the number of Americans we lost in the entire Vietnam war.

Despite the national scale of this issue, and despite the federal government’s tragic role in sparking the epidemic through terrible regulation of opioid painkillers from the 1990s until very recently, the federal government has done little to date to turn this epidemic around.

In the fall of 2015, as Vermont opioid-related fatalities were climbing to previously unimaginable levels, with about as many people dying from opiate use as were dying in roadway crashes, homicides, and accidental gun incidents combined, Burlington realized that we could not rely on other levels of government to stop the dying and that no one was in charge of mounting a coordinated public health response. As a result, the City decided to take responsibility for leading the challenge. We put the police in charge because they do urgency well, hired the City’s first social worker to be our Opioid Policy Coordinator, and gave her an office next to the Chief of Police.

For the last two and a half years, we have coordinated a monthly meeting that we call Community Stat that convenes medical providers, treatment agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, housing providers, recovery agencies, and many other partners in our response to this epidemic. Fifty to 75 agencies are at this meeting table every month. The meetings focus on data, science, and relentless follow up. Together at that table we have launched perhaps the country’s most robust constellation of initiatives to stop the opioid crisis of any region in the country.

Most of the initiatives focus on easing access to and reducing the stigma of the life-saving anti-addiction medicine buprenorphine, which is also known as Suboxone, in the settings that opioid users often find themselves in: emergency rooms, prisons, and needle exchanges. Six weeks ago Burlington police became the first police department in the country that we’re aware of to start screening arrestees for opioid use disorder, and offering immediate access to medicine for those who screen positive.

We have much more work to do. At the same time, it appears that this coordinated, local effort is finally producing results: Accidental opioid-related overdose deaths dropped 50 percent in our county in 2018, even as deaths rose by 20 percent in the rest of Vermont, and by about 2-3 percent nationally. I am very hopeful that we will bring this epidemic to a quick end when the interventions pioneered here are scaled through hospitals, prisons, needle exchanges, and police departments across the country. 

I share this story with you as an example of local government solving big problems, pursuing and implementing innovative strategies, and quite simply, helping people. I also share it with you because I think it holds some lessons for whatever work you may find yourselves doing next. Wherever you are, when you see crises impacting members of your community, I urge you to seek solutions and make it your job to help.

So, you almost-graduates of the University of Vermont Honors College: Wherever you land next, get involved. Look for civic efforts in your community that speak to you. Consider contributing to local government itself. I expect that what you’ll find will be nourishing for both you and your community in ways that may be hard to predict, but are likely to have greater and broader reach than you can imagine.

Thank you for the opportunity to share in this special, happy day. I wish you the best in all that you have ahead. Congratulations to the class of 2019!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      

May 16, 2019

Contact: Olivia LaVecchia

                  (802) 734-0617

City of Burlington Planting 1,500 Restoration Trees This Season

Working with Audubon Vermont, the University of Vermont, and hundreds of community members, City marks fourth year of successful program to restore natural areas and species habitat

Burlington, VT – The City of Burlington is planting 1,500 trees and shrubs this year in order to restore natural areas of the City, and ensure that the City stewards public lands in a way that protects Lake Champlain through water filtration and erosion control, provides beneficial habitat for birds and pollinators, and enhances public spaces for all Burlingtonians. Thanks to partnerships with the University of Vermont, Audubon Vermont, and hundreds of volunteers, the City will have planted more than 4,600 trees and shrubs over the four years of this program by the end of the 2019 season.

“Part of what makes Burlington such a special place is the fact that an incredible 49 percent of our City is open space, and half of that is natural areas like wetlands and forests,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “These natural areas provide an essential complement to our growing and dynamic urban core, and our work to both steward them and increase access to and awareness of them is vital. I am appreciative of Dan Cahill, the City’s Land Steward, for leading this work, and to our partners in Audubon Vermont and the University of Vermont who help make it possible.”

The City is engaging in restoration plantings at three locations around the City: The 12 acres of City-managed land at 311 North Avenue along the Burlington Bike Path and the Cambrian Rise housing development in the New North End; two class two wetlands within Oakledge Park in the South End; and the 63-acre McKenzie Park along the Winooski River in the Intervale. These plantings are in addition to the 360 trees that the City is planting along streets and in parks in 2019.

As a result of these restoration plantings, today, the formerly eroding bluff at 311 North Avenue is being held in place by new root systems; formerly soggy meadows at Oakledge Park are being restored as class two wetlands to help filter stormwater runoff and provide new habitat; and silver maples are helping to rebuild the floodplain forest and stabilize the soils at McKenzie Park. Throughout, the City is also managing for invasive species, altering mowing practices, protecting and enhancing pollinator-friendly habitat, and taking other steps to ensure the vitality of these natural areas.

Since the City’s first restoration planting, in 2016, the City has planted 3,112 trees and shrubs across these three sites, and is currently planting an additional 1,523 trees and shrubs in 2019, to bring the total to date up to 4,635. This has been made possible with the help of 1,845 hours of volunteer time across 2016, 2017, and 2018. For information by location, see the table below.

By engaging hundreds of volunteers in these plantings, this program creates a new connection between the City and the broader community, helps to raise awareness of the importance of these natural areas, and accomplishes much more than the City would be able to do on its own.

The three areas where the City is conducting these plantings are characterized as natural areas in the City’s Open Space Protection Plan, which was last updated in 2014. Two years later, the City’s Land Steward, Dan Cahill, started working with University of Vermont professor Bill Keeton on a plan for plantings at 311 North Avenue. That year marked the City’s first ecological restoration project, and the City has continued to partner with Dr. Keeton’s classes. To date, students in Dr. Keeton’s classes have participated in planting about one-third of the City’s restoration trees and shrubs. 

Audubon Vermont has been a second key partner in this initiative, bringing additional capacity, expertise in species-beneficial habitat, and a focus on community engagement. With Audubon Vermont’s partnership, the City’s restoration plantings include plants that are beneficial for birds in every season, like the shrub willows that blossom first thing in the spring. Audubon Vermont has also worked to help engage diverse community members in these plantings, including through a “Planting Pride” event at Oakledge Park in partnership with LGBTQ community groups, restoration planting events and a “Plants for Birds” project with the King Street Center’s after school program, a “Plants for Birds” project with students at the Sustainability Academy, and more.

The plants that the City sources for this program are native species that are locally grown at the Intervale Conservation Nursery, a program of the non-profit Intervale Center.

“It’s incredible to see a community effort like this come together, especially when the objectives offer so many benefits to Burlington,” said Dan Cahill, the City’s Land Steward. “Restoring our vital natural areas creates a ripple effect that will enhance our community for hundreds of years.”

“Audubon Vermont is excited about this terrific partnership with the City of Burlington to restore natural areas with native plants,” said David Mears, Executive Director. “Our shared work is empowering community members across a spectrum of backgrounds and interests in Burlington and beyond to unite in support of protecting birds and the places they need to thrive.”

“The partnership between my class at UVM and the City has provided real world, hands-on learning opportunities that have been invaluable for our students,” said Bill Keeton, Professor of Forest Ecology and Forestry at the University of Vermont. “Working with the City, we’ve planted more than 2,100 trees just in the past four years, removed invasive species, reintroduced American Chestnut to City parks, and helped stabilize river banks. Dan Cahill and all the staff at the City Parks Department have been absolutely instrumental in making all of this happen.”

Upcoming opportunities for the community to engage in restoration plantings include:

• Sunday, May 19: Tree Planting Day at Oakledge Park

Please see two photos below:

• Press conference on May 16, 2019
• Signage installed at a restoration planting site at Oakledge Park

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2019
Contact:  Olivia LaVecchia
               (802) 734-0617

Statement Delivered by Mayor Miro Weinberger at May 13, 2019 City Council Meeting

Burlington, VT – At tonight’s City Council meeting, following a public forum and a presentation from Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo regarding the Department’s use of force policy, training, and reviews, Mayor Miro Weinberger delivered the following statement:

Thank you Chief del Pozo for that detailed presentation, and I want to thank everyone here for coming out tonight to have this important conversation together.

I want to start by acknowledging that the past few weeks have been challenging for the community and our police department. I empathize with the anguish and anger felt by those whose family members have been hurt in recent police incidents, and I understand why the public has been unsettled by the videos and images that have been released about them.

As public officials charged with both supporting and overseeing our police, we have a need to try to recognize and respond to the pain and anger these incidents have sparked, to understand what implications they have for our policing effort, and to chart a course forward. 

To that end, I would like to step back from the events of the past few weeks and remind us where we were in the summer of 2015, the last time we had a major discussion at this table about the future of Burlington policing.

That summer we had the task of hiring a new police chief in the middle of a watershed year in American policing. On the heels of terrible tragedies and injustice at the hands of police in Ferguson, Baltimore, Cleveland, and elsewhere, President Barack Obama created a Task Force on 21st Century Policing and charged it with “identifying best practices and offering recommendations on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust.”

The release of the Task Force’s final report in May 2015 exposed a deep rift in the leadership of American law enforcement among those who believed little change was needed, and those who believed extensive reform and re-engineering was critical.

I knew at the time where Burlington stood in that debate, and when I appointed Brandon del Pozo as Police Chief in July of that year, I asked the Council to confirm him, in part, because I knew he would be a reformer who built on the already strong foundation of the Burlington Police Department – a foundation that had been built by generations of strong leaders and committed officers. 

I wrote to the Council in advance of that vote that, “We are in the midst of an important and difficult national conversation about the future of policing in America and what changes to our practices are needed… the BPD, with its long-standing commitments to community policing and public engagement, is well ahead of most communities in addressing this challenge. However, as in all American cities, we have more work to do to protect public safety and maintain public trust in the years ahead. With del Pozo, I am confident that we have found an individual who has thought deeply about the challenge of providing public safety while prioritizing and protecting the rights of our residents.” After a considerable debate, the City Council agreed with this sentiment and unanimously confirmed Chief del Pozo.

The progress described in the report you just heard provides considerable context to the incidents that have been the focus of our attention in recent weeks. This report should reassure the community that we were right to place our confidence in this chief, and right to have faith in the men and women who wear the BPD uniform. Few police departments in the country have made comparable progress on these challenging policing issues over the last three and a half years.

At the same time, a central focus of 21st century policing is trust. The report opens with: “Trust between law enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve is essential in a democracy. It is key to the stability of our communities, the integrity of our criminal justice system, and the safe and effective delivery of policing services.”

While the Chief has demonstrated that the incidents we have been focused on recent weeks are not representative of our broader policing efforts, they have nonetheless damaged the trust between the police and this community. 

As a result, in the weeks and months ahead, we must find a way achieve two, interrelated goals: 1) to repair that trust between the community and the police, and 2) to continue advancing with our progressive policing agenda that that makes this community both safer and more just. 

To that end I propose, and the Administration will fully embrace and support, a focused and well-designed public engagement process. While there are numerous details that we need to sort through with the Council to get this engagement process right, my sense is that such a process should be guided by these principles:

1. The process should be led by a group that represents the whole community. We should create a group that includes the Administration, the City Council, and the Police Commission, and also community advocates and representatives of communities of color.

2. The police need to be included as an essential partner in this effort. Little long-term change in policing culture or practice is possible without buy-in and support from the men and women who put their lives on the line for the City.

3. The process should look broadly at our critical policing policies. Certainly the use of force policy should be reviewed and discussed, and in addition, officer training, information disclosure policies, civilian oversight structures, and officer wellness initiatives should also be considered.

4. This engagement process must be supported with resources and expertise. To ensure an effective process we should include professionals who have successfully completed public engagement efforts regarding policing elsewhere, and sufficient funds to complete this work in a timely and professional manner.

Again, getting this process designed right and started on the right foot will require considerable discussion and coordination among different members of the community and between the Administration and this Council. I look forward to engaging the Council in the days ahead in the hope that we can reach consensus on a path forward that will make the community safer and more united.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2019
Contact:  Olivia LaVecchia

                   (802) 734-0617

Mayor Miro Weinberger Encourages Community Participation in Burlington’s Green Up Day

The 49th annual Green Up Day is this Saturday, May 4

Burlington, VT – Mayor Miro Weinberger encourages community participation in Burlington’s Green Up Day on Saturday, May 4. Green Up Day is a statewide event and movement that began in 1970, and brings community members together to clean up Burlington’s parks, streets, and neighborhoods from litter and debris left behind by the spring snow melts.

“Green Up Day marks the start of spring here in Burlington, and offers all of us the opportunity to be outside together, reconnect after the long winter, and show how much we value Burlington,” said Mayor Weinberger. “I am appreciative of the partners who make this day possible, and I am grateful for the hundreds of volunteers who come out every year to help keep Burlington’s neighborhoods clean and green.”

Every year on Green Up Day, between 350 and 650 volunteers help remove 10,000 to 20,000 pounds of trash from around the City. The City of Burlington supports Green Up Day by providing green trash bags at a number of locations around the City, as well as providing special service to collect the bags and debris.

This is the fourth year that Green Up Day will also offer an incentive prize to participants. Those picking up their bags between Monday, April 30 and Friday, May 4 at the Burlington Electric Department will be entered to win a “Green Up Basket” that includes power strips, CFL bulbs, and a free energy audit conducted by Vermont Gas & BED. 

Burlingtonians can pick up the green bags on Saturday, May 4 from 8 am to noon at Old Spokes Home, Leddy Park, Ethan Allen Park, Miller Center, Burlington Subaru, or Salmon Hole Park. Bags are also available prior to Green Up Day, from Tuesday, April 30 through Friday, May 3 during regular business hours at seven locations around the City:

• CORE at the ONE Community Center – 20 Allen Street
• Departments of Public Works and Parks, Recreation & Waterfront – 645 Pine Street
• Miller Community Center – 130 Gosse Court
• Burlington Electric Department – 585 Pine Street
• Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) – City Hall, 149 Church St, 3rd floor
• Burlington Subaru – 351 Shelburne Road
• Citizen Cider – 316 Pine Street (regular business hours: 11:00 am – 10:00 pm)

On Saturday, the City’s Department of Public Works and Parks, Recreation & Waterfront will have trucks circling the City’s major streets collecting full Green Up Day bags from 8 am to noon. Community members who collect trash should deposit that trash into the provided Green Up Day trash bags, and if they find any scrap metal or tires, should keep that material in a separate pile outside of bags at the same Green Up Day drop-off site; this material will be collected and recycled. Please place bags at any major intersections out of the way of traffic, and please keep the bike lanes and sidewalks clear of bags.

For additional information about Green Up Day in Burlington, please see the City website: https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/CEDO/GreenUp

Photo of Green Up Day banner at City Hall on Friday, May 3, 2019.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
April 25, 2019
Contact: Olivia LaVecchia
               (802) 734-0617

City of Burlington Planting 360 New Trees This Year

The City is more than doubling the number of street and park trees it will plant this year, in part as a response to emerald ash borer, and offering opportunities for community members to get involved

Burlington, VT – The City of Burlington is on track to plant 360 new trees this calendar year, more than doubling the number of street and park trees planted in previous years. These plantings will include 100 trees and more than 100 native shrubs along the northern section of the Burlington Bike Path; plantings in two neighborhoods with large populations of ash trees; and plantings in Wards 2, 3, and 8, which currently have the lowest percentage of canopy coverage in the City.

“Our urban canopy provides our City with shade, clean air, character, and joy, and our focus on increased tree planting now will benefit Burlingtonians for generations,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “I am grateful to our team of City arborists, led by V.J. Comai, for approaching this work with great passion and creativity, and finding ways to significantly expand the City’s capacity for planting more trees this year and in years ahead.”

“This work wouldn’t be possible without the City’s skilled crew of four full-time arborist technicians, who bring passion, skill, and experience to their work,” said V.J. Comai, City Arborist in the Department of Parks, Recreation & Waterfront. “I’m appreciative of all of the support we get from this Administration and from City residents, who understand the value of our trees.”

As the City expands the number of new trees, it is also offering opportunities for community members to get involved, and the first volunteer day of the season is coming up on Saturday, April 27, in the Strathmore neighborhood in the New North End. This neighborhood’s street trees are almost entirely ash, and the City will be interplanting 15 other species of trees in order to establish new species in advance of the emerald ash borer’s impact on the City’s ash trees: Emerald ash borer was confirmed in Vermont for the first time in 2018, and is a threat to the City’s 1,249 ash trees, which comprise 11.3 percent of street and park trees. The City has been working to diversify its tree species, and the species in the new plantings include maple, linden, oak, river birch, serviceberry, and more.

Burlington was one of the first cities in the country to conduct a formal tree canopy assessment, and today, Burlington’s tree canopy is more extensive than that of many peer communities, with 42 percent of the City receiving tree canopy coverage. The most recent data show that the tree canopy has increased in recent years, and the City’s goal is to continue to expand this coverage. The City is currently updating its Urban Forest Master Plan in order to guide the health and longevity of its urban canopy, and will be organizing upcoming community outreach events to gather input on the plan.

The 360 trees that the City plans to plant in 2019 compare to 266 trees planted in 2018, 156 trees planted in 2017, and 141 trees planted in 2016. The City spent $19,600 on new trees in 2018, and has double that amount budgeted for new trees this year. Furthermore, these numbers reflect only the City's street and park trees. At the same time as the City is working to expand its street and park canopy, over the last four years, the City has partnered with a number of volunteers and organizations to plant more than 3,000 restoration trees -- younger trees in natural areas of the City -- in order to rehabilitate natural areas like 311 North Avenue, Oakledge Park, and McKenzie Park. The City plans to plant 1,300 more of these restoration trees in 2019.

The City is able to expand its tree planting capacity in part through creative solutions, including:

• Recruiting volunteers for tree plantings, which helps the City both engage the community and plant significantly more trees.
• Partnering with community members and organizations. One of these partnerships is with Branch Out Burlington, which works with the City at its tree nursery and through many programs and events. Another is with the University of Vermont, where students are helping the City identify all new available tree planting sites in the City greenbelts in Wards 2, 3, and 8, in order to help facilitate the City planting more trees in those neighborhoods.
• Extending the months during which the City plants trees. Spring and fall are the best times for tree planting, and while the City focused its plantings during the spring months in past years, this year, the City plans to plant trees in the fall as well.
• Planting “bare root” trees instead of “balled and burlap” trees. The City previously planted “balled and burlap” trees, which come with soil on their roots that can weigh as much as 250 pounds and require specialized equipment for planting. Now, the City is purchasing “bare root” trees, which don’t have soil on their roots, cost less, and can be picked up by one person. This allows the City to purchase more trees and engage the community in tree plantings. While “bare root” trees have to be planted more quickly than “balled and burlap trees” and therefore require additional planning, the City has carefully timed its planting schedule, and the “bare root” trees establish quickly and well.
• Expanding the City’s tree nursery, in partnership with Branch Out Burlington and the UVM Horticultural Research Center, which allows the City to achieve savings in the cost of purchasing trees and also to engage more community members.
• Implementing a tree inventory map system to better track tree data.
• Finding efficiencies in the arborist team’s other work. For instance, the arborist team was able to finish its contract with the Burlington Electric Department one month earlier than it has in past years as a result of close coordination with BED, allowing the team to get an earlier start on spring pruning and planting.

Upcoming opportunities for the community to get engaged in tree planting efforts include:

• Saturday, April 27: Tree planting in Strathmore neighborhood
• Saturday, May 4: Annual tree planting at the UVM Horticultural Farm
• Saturday, May 4: Vermont’s 49th Annual Green Up Day
• Saturday, May 4: Planting Pride at Oakledge Park
• Sunday, May 19: Tree planting at Oakledge Park

Photo of Mayor Weinberger and City Arborist V.J. Comai planting a tree in the Strathmore neighborhood on April 25, 2019:

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