Burlington, Vt. – On Sunday evening, Burlington Police Department dispatchers received multiple 911 calls for sounds of gunshots in the vicinity of Roosevelt Park. This shooting is the 12th gunfire incident of 2022. Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger issued the following statement on these events:

“Gunfire incidents in Burlington are dangerous, illegal, and unacceptable. The individuals who are putting themselves and the public at risk through these reckless shootings should be on notice that the City is doing everything in its power to hold them accountable and ­stop now. To fully protect the public from gun violence, the BPD also needs action from other law enforcement agencies, the City Council, and state and federal lawmakers. Later this week, Chief Murad and I will further detail both the BPD’s efforts to reduce gun incidents and the actions we need from partners.”

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Burlington and South Burlington, VT – After more than six years of service to the City of Burlington, Chief Steven Locke has accepted the position of Fire Chief for the City of South Burlington.  South Burlington Fire Chief Terry Francis, after giving 48 years of service to the fire profession, will move to the position of Fire Marshal overseeing construction permitting, inspections and fire prevention.  

Chief Locke started at the City of Burlington in 2016 after 23 years of service in the Hartford Vermont Fire Department. Chief Locke also served as Interim Chief Administrative Officer in Burlington during a transition period in 2019 and 2020. He has served as a board member since 2016 and as treasurer since 2019 of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, representing more than 10,000 members.

“We are thrilled to welcome such an accomplished leader to the South Burlington community,” said Jessie Baker, City Manager of South Burlington.  “Chief Locke’s expertise in public safety, systems thinking, and team management will be an asset to the Fire Department and the residents of South Burlington, as we celebrate the many decades of service of Chief Francis and look forward to our future leadership.”

“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the City of Burlington as part of Mayor Weinberger’s Administration and work with the dedicated men and women of the Burlington Fire Department. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work alongside an outstanding team of City leaders, and I look forward to the new opportunities we will face in my new role in South Burlington,” Locke said.

“I am grateful for Chief Locke’s service to Burlington for more than six years, including the last two pandemic years which has been one of the most challenging periods in the department’s history,” said Mayor Weinberger. “Chief Locke came to Burlington as the first fire chief appointed from outside the department in more than three decades, and has been more than simply a fire chief during his time here, serving in multiple roles throughout his tenure. His accomplishments at the Fire Department will have lasting value to the City for years to come.  I am proud to have served with Chief Locke and will greatly miss his steadiness, wise counsel, and supportive, ‘can do’ character.”

Highlights of Chief Locke’s accomplishments during his time with the Burlington Fire Department include:

-Leading capital investments, including significant renovation and improvements to all five fire stations and replacing eight fire trucks with voters’ support of the 2016 and 2022 capital bonds.
-Playing a leadership role in the City’s COVID response, generating daily briefing reports in the early days of the pandemic to coordinate the City’s departments and prioritize critical actions.
-Adding a third ambulance at the New North End fire station.
-Increasing the gender diversity of the Fire Department and making renovations to fire stations in order to accommodate women firefighters so that the department can continue to improve in this area.
-Implementing a computer-aided dispatch software system to reduce unit movements and send the closest available apparatus.
-Making progress to form a regional dispatch model in Chittenden County to provide emergency dispatch services.
 

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Burlington, Vt. – Mayor Miro Weinberger issued the following statement after a group of local investors acquired full ownership and control of Phase One of CityPlace (the currently vacant land that was formerly part of the downtown mall) in downtown Burlington.

“The change in CityPlace Phase One ownership announced today represents a major step forward for the CityPlace project, and a major step closer to the realization of hundreds of homes and jobs, and the dramatic growth of the City’s property tax base that we have been persistently working toward for years. This project will now be led by committed, experienced, local partners who have a long record of delivering successful building projects in our community. I look forward to supporting the new leadership team, and working to ensure that TIF Investment remains a viable part of the plan to build new ’Great Streets’ through the project.”

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Burlington, Vt. – Mayor Miro Weinberger announced the release by the City’s Planning Department of the 2021 Annual Report of the Burlington Police Department (BPD). This report will be presented at the Burlington Police Commission Meeting tonight.

This is the second Annual Report of this scope, and contains information on six subject areas: individuals who interacted with the police, incidents and offenses, pedestrian stops, traffic stops, arrests, and uses of force.

The report’s goals are to provide more information about the BPD to the community; to document racial disparities in policing; and to help identify, where possible, the causes of those disparities. This Annual Report is an expansion of the BPD’s long-standing commitment to transparency as a value that increases accountability, outcomes and public trust (see bottom for background on the BPD’s transparency efforts).  

Mayor Weinberger released the following statement: 

“The BPD 2021 Annual Report is a detailed and illuminating document that takes BPD’s long-standing commitment to transparency to a new level and sheds new light on the challenges and work of the department over the past year.  I want to thank the Planning Department, the BPD, and the Police Commission for their contributions to this important report. The report documents definitively the trends Chief Murad and I raised concerns about throughout the year: as our number of officers declined throughout 2021, the community experienced a significant rise in Priority 1 incidents – incidents requiring an urgent response – and in some concerning categories of crime, including gunfire incidents, burglaries, and stolen vehicles. 

“A top priority in public safety right now must be to end these concerning trends and rebuild the department to the levels necessary to properly police Burlington. The BPD will be presenting its rebuilding plan to the City Council at a budget meeting next week.

“It must also be a top priority for the BPD, and our community, to continue to work to eliminate racial bias or disparity in policing and all of our institutions. To that end, the report includes new efforts to examine police data and identify racial disparities in policing activities. While the report shows some areas of significant progress, particularly with respect to traffic stops, I am concerned to see that some racial disparities continued in 2021.  I will continue working with Chief Murad and the BPD leadership to make sure that all uses of force against Black individuals are reviewed when they happen, and continue meeting monthly with the Police Commission to examine the causes of these disparities and identify actions the City and BPD can take to address them in a meaningful way.”  

Police Chief Jon Murad said, “The Annual Report is the latest in a long list of the Burlington Police Department’s transparency efforts. Sharing the work that the women and men of the department do with and for our neighbors is a key component of public service. It allows our community to understand that work, and all of us to dig in together on how we can improve.”

The report’s key findings include: 

• Total number of incidents has declined, but Priority 1 incidents increased during 2021: BPD recorded 21,570 incidents in 2021, down 8.5% from 23,584 in 2020. This continues a trend in decreasing incidents, attributable to decreases in traffic stops, reported retail theft, and foot patrols. However, there were 2,081 Priority 1 incidents in 2021, which represents a 14.2% increase from the 1,822 incidents in 2020. Priority 1 incidents are the most urgent types, according to BPD’s Priority Response Plan, and include things like arson, assault, overdose, and robbery.  
• There were 3,767 crimes recorded in 2021, up 10.2% from 3,418 in 2020. Of the 3,767 crimes in 2021, 382 were violent versus 398 in 2020.
• Overall, arrests are declining, but Black individuals make up a higher percentage of total arrests and are more than twice as likely to be arrested for a violent felony.  Arrests have been decreasing since 2016. BPD made 987 arrests in 2021, down 14.0% from 1,148 in 2020. Across race, most arrestees are cited, meaning they are assigned a court date but not detained until that court date. Approximately 4.3% of incidents result in an arrest.  Approximately 75.8% of arrestees in 2021 were White and 20.5% were Black.
• Police use of force increased from 2020’s historic low. Black individuals are more likely to be subjects of uses of force, including for non-violent crimes, but are less likely to be injured than white individuals. There were 188 uses of force in 2021, up 17.5% from 160 in 2020. Of the 187 uses of force in 2021 where race was known, 112 (59.9%) were against White people and 68 (36.4%) were against Black people. (For the purpose of this report, use of force includes all law-enforcement actions beyond compliant handcuffing.)

• For White subjects of force, the most common type of force is “empty hand controls” (empty hand controls are use of force without a weapon).
• For Black subjects, the most common type is pointing a firearm.
• Approximately 15.4% of subjects of force are injured; White subjects are more likely to be injured than Black subjects.
• Black arrestees for violent crimes have about the same risk of being the subject of force as White arrestees of violent crime.
• Black arrestees for non-violent crimes are more likely to be the subject of force than White arrestees of non-violent crime.

• As a result of focus and change in departmental policy, overall traffic stops continue to decrease, helping address historical racial disparities:  Traffic stops have been decreasing steadily since 2015. In recent years, the Police Department has ceased its use of the lawful but controversial “pretextual stop” for random interdiction. A pretextual stop occurs when an officer pulls over a motorist for a minor traffic or equipment violation and then uses the stop to investigate a more serious crime.
• The number of officer-generated traffic stops has decreased approximately 89%, falling from 6,262 in 2015 to fewer than 700 last year. Across all races, most stops are for moving violations. Officers made 680 traffic stops in 2021; 586 were of White drivers, and 49 were of Black.  The proportion of Black drivers stopped (7.3%) is lower than their share of the driving population (10.6%), as estimated by crash data.

Most of the data in the City’s report come from Valcour, which is the BPD’s computer-aided dispatch and records management system. Burlington Police Department has used Valcour since the end of 2011.

The “Burlington Police Department 2021 Annual Report” was written by Jonathan Larson, City Data Analyst, in the Office of City Planning.

Background on BPD’s Transparency Efforts
This Annual Report is an expansion of the BPD’s long-standing commitment to transparency as a value that increases accountability, outcomes and public trust. Prior transparency efforts have included:

•     Being the first police department in the state to release traffic stop and use of force statistics on a regular basis; 
•    The creation of a police data portal and dashboard in 2014 (LINK);  
•    Becoming one of the first police departments in New England to deploy body cameras on all officers;
•    Releasing annual traffic reports since 2017 and annual use of force reports since 2016 (LINK);
•    Providing immediate reports to the Mayor about every use of force against a person of color, since January 2021; and
•    Releasing monthly Use of Force Reports on the City’s website that detail every BPD use of force, since January 2021 (LINK);
 

Attachments:
Police Department Annual Report
BPD Annual Report Addendum

Burlington, Vt. –  Before adjourning, the Legislature separated problematic Act 250 reform – which was opposed by seven of Vermont’s mayors, builders, and housing professionals – from important pro-housing initiatives.

Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger issued the following statement on these events:

“Thank you to the Governor for taking a resolute stand for affordable housing and to the Vermont Legislature for listening to the mayors, builders and housing professionals and taking action to address Vermont’s acute housing crisis without linking those efforts to an ill-conceived, anti-housing Act 250 reform. This late change will result in material, on-the-ground progress for everyone on the front lines of making good on the promise that housing is a human right.

“We have much more to do to reform our local and state housing laws to make them truly pro-housing. We need Act 250 reform that makes it far easier to build much-needed housing and other investments in and around Vermont’s cities and towns while increasing our state protection of high-value natural areas. This year’s Act 250 reform bill did not get that balance close to right and Vermont’s cities and towns were left out of the process that created it. The City of Burlington would welcome the opportunity to engage before next session in a new effort aimed at these linked, dual goals of much more housing and better environmental protection.”

Burlington, Vt. – Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger released the following statement in response to the shooting in Buffalo on Saturday afternoon:

“I am outraged and heartbroken by the news unfolding about what is clearly a racially targeted mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. This type of hate should have no place in our country. My thoughts, and the thoughts of the Burlington community, are with Buffalo. This terrible tragedy, on top of so many prior mass tragedies, compels us to continue to fight for gun violence policy reform. As I’ve said too many times, it is far too easy for violent white supremacists, dangerous criminals, and unstable individuals in this country to get their hands on guns.” 

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Burlington, Vt. – Mayor Miro Weinberger and the City Council advanced a resolution during tonight’s Council meeting to chart a path toward further fossil fuel reductions in buildings throughout Burlington. The vote to pass the resolution was unanimous.

The resolution, which was sponsored by East District City Councilor Jack Hanson, seeks policy recommendations in the coming months from Burlington Electric Department and the Department of Permitting and Inspections which are aimed at reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions in new construction, major renovation, municipal buildings, and large commercial buildings. The resolution follows the enactment of Burlington’s Thermal Energy Charter Change last month, which provided the City additional authority to enact policies related to building emissions in Burlington as long as voters give further approval to any new fees that the policy creates.  A goal of this resolution is to have new policy for voters to approve no later than Town Meeting Day 2023. 

“The climate emergency is a crisis that demands we all act with urgency. With this resolution, the City is committed to moving immediately to use our new charter authority to reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions in the buildings throughout Burlington,” said Mayor Weinberger.  “I welcome the partnership with the Burlington City Council on this critical effort and look forward to working with Burlingtonians and key stakeholders to advance this work in the months ahead.”

The City’s Net Zero Energy Roadmap identified building emissions as one of the top sectors in which progress was necessary to reduce fossil fuel emissions in Burlington. The Roadmap highlighted efficiency, weatherization, strategic electrification, and the use of renewable fuels as options for reducing emissions in buildings. 

“This presents an enormous opportunity for Burlington to lead the country in addressing the climate crisis, creating jobs, and creating safer, healthier, more affordable homes,” Councilor Hanson said. “Tonight is the first step in developing those incredibly important policies."

Darren Springer, General Manager of Burlington Electric Department, said: “Burlington Electric looks forward to working with the Mayor and City Councilors to advance bold climate policies that are fiscally responsible, practical, and achievable as we work towards our community’s Net Zero Energy 2030 goal. While policy will be critical in our City’s efforts to reduce emissions, Burlington Electric will also continue to provide strong rebates and incentives for our residential and commercial customers to make the switch to clean heating technologies, including cold-climate heat pumps, geothermal heating and cooling, and heat pump water heaters.”

Burlington Electric has worked with the national Building Electrification Institute (BEI) previously, including learning about best practices from other communities advancing building sector policies, and analyzing the economics of Burlington’s Primary Renewable Heating ordinance proposal which was enacted in 2021, and applies to new construction projects. In the future, Burlington Electric looks forward to seeking additional analysis and best practice guidance from BEI in making further policy recommendations under the resolution passed at tonight’s Council meeting. 

Jenna Tatum, Director of the Building Electrification Institute, stated: “BEI applauds Mayor Weinberger, the Burlington City Council, and the Burlington Electric Department for enacting strong policies to phase out fossil fuels across the community. BEI has worked with Burlington Electric staff over the last several years to analyze the local economics of building electrification and to ensure that these are sound policies. The continued leadership of Burlington to accelerate the clean energy transition will help ensure that Burlingtonians benefit from cleaner air and lower energy bills, and will also help inspire other cities and municipalities to take similar steps.”

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To read the resolution, click here

Burlington, Vt. – Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger, Let’s Grow Kids, and ONE Arts announced the grand opening of the new ONE Arts Community School – Burlington in the Old North End. The child care center creates 28 new child care slots in Burlington, including 16 slots for infants and toddlers. 

ONE Arts has also committed to reserving 20 percent of slots for families through the City’s Early Learning Initiative First Steps Scholarship Program during the next five years. Let’s Grow Kids has been instrumental in helping the City develop its Early Learning Initiative (ELI) and advocating for affordable, high-quality childcare statewide.

In 2021, the City awarded ONE Arts with a $103,676 capacity grant to fund building renovations, high-quality classroom furnishings, and staff training. 

Mayor Miro Weinberger said, “We have a child care crisis in Vermont and throughout our country. Not enough children receive high-quality care, families are paying too much, and our child care workers don’t earn nearly enough for the essential work they provide. Through its unique, innovative and successful Burlington Early Learning Initiative, the City of Burlington is making investments and partnerships at the local level to address this national challenge, and I’m thrilled to have been able to work with Let’s Grow Kids and ONE Arts to create another much-needed daycare here in Burlington.”

Mayor Weinberger also issued a Proclamation today declaring May 6, 2022 “Childcare Provider Appreciation Day,” celebrating and thanking child care providers in Burlington.

Becca McHale and Margaret Coleman, ONE Arts co-founders said, "ONE Arts started eight years ago as a labor of love, just the rental of a small building with the two of us wanting to have a place for art and gathering in our neighborhood. We love the Old North End, and we have felt so fortunate to be able to connect with Old North End families through art!” 

Aly Richards, CEO of Let’s Grow Kids said, “This is what it’s all about -- these children, their essential early childhood educators, this beautiful new early learning environment here in the City of Burlington. This type of support from the City’s Early Learning Initiative will make high-quality early childhood education equitably accessible to dozens of children and families in the Old North End community. There are over 8,700 children across Vermont who still need this type of care and don’t have access to it. While this new center will provide children with the strong early start they deserve, our statewide child care crisis will only be solved by sustainable, long-term public funding. Let’s Grow Kids looks forward to supporting One Arts, the Mayor and the City of Burlington as we continue to build on this early learning initiative and a brighter future for all Vermonters.”

ONE Arts Community School
ONE Art’s Community School in Burlington is ONE Arts’ second child care center in Chittenden County and is an important addition to the Old North End; roughly half of the families at the Burlington location are benefiting from financial assistance.  

“After meeting Sarah McLellan, another O.N.E. resident, the three of us began dreaming of starting an early learning center right here, that would be a school that explored the vibrancy of the neighborhood. We feel deeply grateful to the City of Burlington and Let's Grow Kids for helping us create this amazing school that can be a place of learning and joy for young children, and a place of support and community for parents and caregivers,” McHale and Coleman said. “This would not have been possible without the financial support of the City and the guidance and encouragement from Let's Grow Kids!”

In addition to the essential childcare that will be provided, ONE Arts Community School also creates a unique community hub for families. ONE Arts, Inc. plans to use the space for family events, parenting and child development educational classes, and tax preparation support and services.

Background on Mayor’s Early Learning Initiative 
The Early Learning Initiative Capacity Grant Program, which was launched by Mayor Weinberger in 2017, has already helped create up to 92 new, high-quality spots in Burlington. With the opening of ONE Arts Community School - Burlington, that brings the total to 120 new child care spots in the City. 

The City’s Early Learning Initiative funds are awarded to both expand capacity of high-quality care, and to provide direct financial support to families who are struggling to find and afford the high cost of child care. Mayor Weinberger has fought for funding to support the expansion of high-quality child care. Since July 2018, the City has allocated $500,000 annually to fund the effort. 

Through a productive partnership with Let’s Grow Kids, the Burlington Early Learning Initiative has run a capacity grant program to increase and preserve high-quality child care spots in Burlington and has established the ELI First Steps Scholarship Program to provide Burlington families with access to high-quality care. Let’s Grow Kids is a nonprofit organization on a mission to ensure affordable access to high-quality child care for all Vermont families by 2025.

“High-quality child care plays a crucial role in preparing our youngest children for school and life. All Burlington children deserve this kind of care, but today it is out of reach for many. Our First Steps Scholarship Program, which is funded through Burlington’s Early Learning Initiative, offers hope that in the future we will be a city where all Burlington children get this care and a full opportunity to thrive,” Mayor Weinberger said.

The First Step Scholarship, which was created by City of Burlington in 2019, is paid for through the Early Learning Initiative and provides funding to make the staggering costs of child care more affordable to families; qualifying families can earn up to $85,800 annually. So far this year, First Steps has grown 35 percent over last year, funding 47 First Step Scholarships; seven of which are at ONE Arts in Old North End. This year, First Steps Scholarships expects to pay more than $250,000 in scholarships to help Burlington families pay for child care.

Investment in early childhood education has been demonstrated to help prepare children for school, narrow the opportunity gap, improve health outcomes, and reduce future public spending. ELI has focused primarily on children aged zero to three, since this age group has the least access to public funding. 

The Burlington Early Learning Initiative is among leaders nationally in its focus on infants and toddlers. The long-term goal of the program is to ensure that all Burlington children have the opportunity to succeed regardless of family income.

In previous years, the City’s Early Learning Initiative provided capacity grants to several facilities including: Pine Forest Children’s Center, Robin’s Nest Children’s Center, Burlington Children’s Space, and the Sara Holbrook Community Center. These grants have allowed facilities to increase enrollment and ensure high–quality care.

Kara Alnasrawi, the City’s Director of Economic Recovery, oversees the program. “The Early Learning Initiative has been a vital source of support for families as well as businesses,” Alnasrawi said. “By offering easy access to scholarships for families and capacity grants to childcare centers, the City of Burlington is making it possible for more parents to return to the workforce and more children to access high-quality care.” 

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Burlington, Vt. – Mayor Miro Weinberger announced today that Burlington has been named as having the “Best Public Square” in the United States for 2022, according to USA Today’s “10 Best” Readers’ Choice awards.

Burlington was nominated by USA Today’s panel of judges, but the final ranking of the top 10 public squares was selected by readers after four weeks of voting. 

“The Church Street Marketplace is the ‘Best Public Square’ in the country because of a great design and more than 40 years of vigilant work by the street’s merchants, outstanding directors, the Commission, and the City to make it a welcoming and safe place for the public to live, work and play,” Mayor Weinberger said. “This distinction is a reminder of how beloved and treasured Church Street is, and it comes at a great time as we gear up for a summer of markets, festivals, events, and more to help the downtown bounce back from the uncertainty and challenges of the past two years.”

Kara Alnasrawi, Director of Church Street Marketplace, said, “We are thrilled to have a national outlet recognize what a valuable and beloved gathering space the Church Street Marketplace is, especially as we prepare a full summer season of events.”

As described by USA Today, “Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace comprises the length of Church Street between Pearl and Main. It’s a designated National Register Historic District that welcomes 1.5 million visitors a year to shop, dine and mingle.”

After Burlington, the following public squares comprised the top 10 in the U.S.: (2) Centerway Square in Corning, New York; (3) Decatur Square in Decatur, Georgia; (4) Campus Martius Park in Detroit; (5) Healdsburg Plaza in Healdsburg, California; (6) Santa Fe Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico; (7) Rittenhouse Square in Philidelphia; (8) Jackson Square in New Orleans; (9) Fountain Square in Cincinatti; and (10) Village Green in Bar Harbor, Maine

Nominees for all categories are chosen by a panel of experts which include a combination of editors from USA TODAY, editors from 10Best.com, and other  relevant expert contributors.

To see the full list of honored public squares, click here

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Burlington, Vt. – Mayor Weinberger issued the following statement on the vandalism this morning to the Pride Center of Vermont:  
 
“I was very troubled and angered to learn about the vandalism at the Pride Center of Vermont this morning. Our City is using its full resources to investigate who committed this crime and why. Acts of hate have no place in Burlington.  
 
“Burlington must continue to be a safe and welcoming city for the LGBTQ+ community. In the wake of the murder of Fern Feather in Morristown and other troubling incidents, living up to this goal is more important than ever. I have spoken with Mike Bensel, the Executive Director of the Pride Center, to offer support and make clear that the City will remain committed to fighting hate and discrimination.”  
 
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