 Hello everybody. If I can have your attention please. Shame on us, we're already a little bit behind schedule. So if everyone can get some grub and find a seat as soon as possible, we'll get things started. There we go, thank you Milo Grant, city counselor for Central District, towards two and three. Thank you, thank you, appreciate it. The love because the battle and struggle is real. And it's a battle and struggle for balance on the city council. And that's what we're here to talk about, to nominate our mayoral candidate and our city council seats candidates for town meeting day 2024. And I am not exaggerating when I say that I believe this is gonna be one of the most important elections that the city has had. So it's gonna be really important that we are all mobilized in some fashion, that we all consider volunteering in some fashion with whatever works with our comfort level. But we definitely need to be engaged, even if it's talking to friends, neighbors and making sure that they're engaged. Engaging our legal residents who now have the opportunity to vote in 2024. Yes, yes, so we need to be working on that, making sure we have translators, getting out the materials to them, signing them up. So we have a lot of work to do. So I am happy to be here, to start things off tonight for you and Jake Tessit positive for COVID and Joe McGee is sick. So, but I'm here, I'm well, just remember COVID's out there, protect yourselves going into the winter. We're getting ready to get started. And our man, Josh Monski, would you like to continue? Thanks, Milo. Milo's awesome, by the way. He's been an amazing DJ. So definitely go see her at council and also go see her for music. Definitely go see her at council and also go see her play music. I'm just gonna see if I can like hold that. I'm kind of tall, there we go. So yeah, what a good turnout tonight. This is awesome. We had 111 people registered virtually, I think over 30 people didn't even register and came, so that's great. You think back to the days when I started in this position in 2016 and like one of the first caucuses that I helped put together was, we had a competitive mayoral caucus between Korean and impotent. There was a lot of organizing that went into that. And I think we had about like 170 people participate in that. So like the fact that there's, anything could happen and anyone could nominate themselves, but I haven't heard of other people nominating themselves for the mayoral for the progressive nomination. So the fact that you all are here despite it potentially being not a competitive caucus is like really exciting, I think shows the enthusiasm people have to kind of move the city forward. So that's really, really great. And yeah, this is also my first in-person caucus since COVID. So this is like, yeah, it's like so good to like have everyone back together. This is great. Yeah, so I just wanted to give folks a quick update on like some state party stuff. And I think somebody else is gonna go over the actual rules for the caucus. I believe maybe Earhart. Yep. So yeah, just a few things. So again, I don't know if I said this earlier. My name is Josh Bronsky. I'm the executive director of the statewide Vermont progressive party. As I said, I've been in this role since 2016. Yep. Thanks. Yeah, I also, I live in Ward 2. So very, very important and cared deeply about the city and the work that we do beyond just, you know, my role. But yeah, we've also been doing a lot of exciting stuff statewide. We just had finished our reorganization process. We elected a brand new state coordinating committee. You know, I think some people are on that here. So that's great. We have a ton of different working groups, like 10 different working groups. Yeah, like raise your hand if you're doing any of the statewide, either coordinating committee or you're on a working group or, you know, any of that kind of stuff. Yeah, so yeah, that's great. So yeah, thanks so much. Yeah, so you check out our website. We're doing some big, really making some big moves on the statewide level. A lot of energy happening. We just hired a brand new staff person, even Nolan, for a very long time. We haven't had a consistent, you know, staff person other than myself. We had Lisa who's doing sound for about a year before we ran out of money, you know. So anytime we can boost our staff capacity, it's really huge. So, you know, we're really focusing on trying to bring the work that started here in Burlington in 1981 when Bernie got elected, kind of expand on that work here, but also continue to like push around the state where, you know, there's a really strong desire for the kind of message of economic, social, and environmental justice that we've been delivering. There's a really strong desire for people to have that all over the state. So that's really the work we've been doing. Go on our website, we have a ton of events all the time, ton of working groups, check it out. Yeah, your participation here is really important and then anything you can do, be it like become a monthly donor, sign up for a working group, like whatever. It's huge because we can't do this work without you and this is why we're successful because of all of you, because we don't have the money, we don't have the resources that the traditional parties have, we don't take the corporate dollars, we don't have, you know, the paid staff, we have a strong grassroots network. So we're gonna keep chugging along and, you know, make some good progress. So thanks so much. And I'll turn it over to Earhart. He's gonna talk more about the process. Nice, Josh. As Josh mentioned, my name's Earhart. Earhart Monka, I live over, my wife, Sydney and I, I've lived over on Grove Street, ward one, since 1982. And East also for folks who don't know me, used to be on the city council, serving ward one back in the Bernie base. And I'll just briefly wanna get folks a little bit of an overview of the caucus rules. Some of this is a little bit moot because I think most of you pre-registered and if you pre-registered, you probably read, you know, what the sort of eligibility requirements are. But let me go over them anyway, just in case. I'm not loud enough for you, Barbie. I don't think I've ever been accused of not being loud. So number one eligibility requirement, you to vote, and this is to vote, it's not to attend the caucus. Anyone's welcome to attend the caucus as an observer or as a non-voting person. But if you're voting, you have to be an eligible growing to voter. You would like it if you support the progressive party platform and statement of principles, which the statement of principles is on the table as you checked in. We hope that you consider yourself a member of the progressive party. And then kind of bottom line on state law, you should not be currently serving on either the Democratic or the Republican City Party Committee, nor should you vote in either of their caucuses. You can only vote in one caucus during anyone given election cycle. But like I said, everyone's welcome to attend and participate, even if you don't meet those requirements and aren't voting. And then just as a reminder, as we're endorsing folks, there's a couple of things that our bylaws would like folks to keep in mind as you're thinking about voting to endorse, whether it's for mayoral candidate or for city council. One is to consider the candidate's affirmative endorsement of the progressive party statement of principles, the aforementioned state group principles. Number two, the candidate's commitment not to work in opposition to any provision in the progressive party's platform. Number three, the candidate's commitment not to work against other progressive party endorsed candidates. And then finally, the candidate's commitment to caucus regularly with other progressive elected officials. So those are kind of the ground rules. We're actually not, as you probably know, voting tonight. You will receive a, hopefully you put in your email because it's all gonna go by email, you will receive an OPA vote ballot for folks who've voted in party elections before. You'll be familiar with that process. Those will go out at some point after the caucus. You will have until December 6th, that's Wednesday, right? 5 p.m. on Wednesday to vote. After that, voting will be done and your vote would not count. If you did not pre-register, you can still register tonight if you haven't already and still get an electronic ballot. And we are encouraging everyone to use electronic ballots because, yeah, but if you have a strong preference for a paper ballot, they are available, but it's a whole lot easier if you can vote electronically. So with that said, I'm gonna, can't remember who's next here on the agenda. I think it's back to Milo. And let me just say, because we didn't pass out agendas, next item on the agenda is gonna be the mayoral candidates forum. And then after that, I think after a brief interlude, we'll have the city council candidates. And unlike past sessions where people have broken out into different wards, we're gonna do it as kind of a plenary. So you'll hear from all the different ward council candidates and get a chance to answer them questions. So with that said, Milo. Thank you so much. All right, this is a moment of truth. We are taking nominations for our mayoral candidates. Is anyone ready to nominate? Yes, come on up. But it is my honor to nominate my good friend, long time colleague and collaborator, Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, for the progressive nomination for mayor of Burlington. Let's hear how to build bridges, collaborate and listen deeply. After decades of organizing for positive change in workplaces, schools, communities, city council and the state house, she brings an unmatched depth of policy experience to this race. She has what it takes to get our community back together and get things done. In the legislature, Emma spends more time building coalitions than she does writing speeches. This is the kind of work that isn't always visible but makes effective change, whether that's to ensure that the legislature honors the will of Burlington voters, that retirements for teachers and state workers are protected, that our election laws stay fair and open, that people without housing aren't turned out into the street or that women in BIPOC for moners can have a fair seat at the table as small business owners. Again and again, Emma cares more about results and credit and she gets those results. She has already reached out across political parties and perspectives and started convening groups of people to talk about community safety, affordability, climate resilience and more. Living room by living room, neighbor by neighbor, parent by parent, community leader by community leader. These conversations have been infused with the commitment, vision and hope that Emma brings to everything she sets her mind to. The detailed evidence-based platform she has crafted over the last two minutes is already unique in this race in the degree that it centers equity and belonging as critical components of a safe, thriving city. We've spent too many years where the community was presented with prescripted policies by its administration without meaningful public engagement. As a long-time community organizer, Emma knows how to truly engage residents to develop people-centered solutions. It's a deep gift to be able to support someone so unreservedly at this moment in time. I'm so grateful to you for stepping up and into this race, Emma, and I can't wait to do, I can't wait to give your campaign. Everyone, my name is Emma Mulvaney-Stanik and I'm excited to ask for your vote to be the progressive nominee for your next mayor of Burlington. I'm here because Burlington faces serious challenges that have been ignored for too long. This has unraveled our sense of community. We are at a critical turning point for what we do next. It's time for new leadership who can get things done and make progress for our neighbors and our entire city. This is an incredible place. It offers tight-knit neighborhoods, safe public schools, local small businesses, a thriving artistic community, an unparalleled, accessible outdoor space. Yet today, many folks in our city are struggling with addiction, living unhoused in our streets and or dealing with mental health issues and cannot find care. Plainly, too many of our neighbors are suffering and too many are unsafe. I know that meeting people's basic needs and creating opportunities for meaningful community engagement is the real solution for creating safer communities. We each have a role to play. As a long-time proud community and labor organizer, I view my policy work through a lens of maintaining a social compact, a mutual agreement between community and government that benefits everyone. Our social compact in Burlington is cracked. We need a leader who understands that the well-being of people should inform our policy decisions. When we make decisions we need to start with asking, are we helping or are we harming people? And who benefits from this decision? I built my career on collaboration to nature's problem solving and action. These are the skills and values that Burlington needs in our next mayor. I am a policymaker and an effective leader in the local and state level. I'm a former Burlington city counselor, a current Vermont state representative, a small business owner, the wife of a city employee who rocks by the way and can't be here because she's working for the city and the mom of two fabulous small young kiddos. We cannot afford divisiveness in our community. The stakes are too high. It impedes city leaders' ability to take action and make good decisions. We deserve, we deserve a city government that works for the entire community. And let's be honest, this has not happened in some time. We, right? We can convene community members, issue-based experts and those most impacted by our struggles to develop solutions together. And then we can take action. We need a mayor who understands how to rebuild trust, who will not only listen but act with urgency that comes from a deep love of this incredible city. I will be that mayor, proud, progressive, with a long history of successful collaboration with Democrats, Republicans and independents. I am seeking the progressive nomination because I believe the core economic, social and environmental justice values of the Progressive Party are exactly the values that our city needs most today. As mayor, I will focus on three, insert the basketball. It always happens here at this hour. As mayor, I will focus on three core policy areas. Community safety, affordability and livability for people and planet. First, community safety. Everyone deserves to be safe and feel safe and be safe in Burlington. The city is not meeting this expectation, but together we can get there. Addressing community safety will be my top priority as mayor. Burlington, Vermont and our entire country face serious community safety challenges including substance use disorder, a lack of adequate mental health care and a housing emergency. People deserve a timely and appropriate response when they call for help in their city improving community safety cannot be solved through one approach or one entity. Our city's current approach is plainly not working. We must make better use of proven community in forced measures that include things like community policing, right size, stacking levels for police, social workers and mental health first responders and strategic use of city resources to address hotspots that are experiencing increased crime. We also need to support victims of crimes by improving coordination between the police department and the parallel justice program. And while we work on short term solutions, we also need to invest in the longterm work of prevention and intervention. This includes creating overdose prevention centers and improving existing recovery services. We also need to be more effective in the legislature to advocate for common sense gun laws. And we need to be more diligent around gun violence prevention work with youth and families here in Burlington. And I'm getting the hook so I'm gonna speed up a little bit here. Keep going, okay. All right, second affordability. I did time this. It's y'all are clapping, which I appreciate and I'm gonna get there to the end so hold your applause. All right, second affordability, which I appreciate. Residents of all income levels should be able to live and thrive in our community. Burlington benefits when we prioritize policies that actually value economic diversity in our city. Burlington and Vermont are experiencing a housing affordability emergency. We need to keep municipal tax. Thank you. And at this time, I need to ask, do we have any other nominations for mayor? Three times? Yes. One more time. We'd like to have you answer some questions. Do we have extra mic? Yes, we do. Excellent. Anyone have questions? Raise your hand and we'll get a mic to you. As you, I'm sure know there's an effort to get a ballot item on the agenda for the city council to put something on the ballot regarding an apartheid free city. And I wonder if you could say a few words about that. And by the way, if someone hasn't signed the petition yet, I have probably most of you have, but you can do it here after the meeting is over. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for the question. Well, as an organizer, I always respect the effort it takes to get enough signatures to put anything on our ballot. It's an important democratic process within the city to have referendums where people can weigh in and I fully support that process. I also want to be clear. I support an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. I following with where we've been able to push, frankly, our federal delegation at this point. There's immense suffering in that region and I also want to be clear. It's been going on well before the recent violent incidences and it's been going on for decades. So it's important that folks be able to weigh in on that measure on the ballot. I'd like to know what you will do about the overly chummy relationship between code enforcement and landlords. And while I don't believe that punishment is the first step, I think that they are not using it sufficiently. The apartments around here are dry. I haven't been in them. My daughter is paying way too much and she is by no means alone. Well, my babysitter who's with my children right now to be able to, for me to be here, lives across the, well used to live across the street in a very similar, really trashy apartment and unbelievable rents being charged for probably a closet that she was living with roommates. And so I think we need to strengthen our code enforcement ordinances at this point. It's a really important part of the mosaic of appropriate housing response where we not only have safe and affordable housing but people have a decency of standard of living where we also are looking at weatherization. We're looking at requiring landlords to take action and really taking the power imbalance out of the equation because it is frankly almost impossible given that we're in such a hot housing market where it is a less than 1% vacancy rate for anyone. I don't care if you're on a sectionate housing voucher or if you have your parents paying for your rent to go up against your landlord. And I've heard way too many stories of anything from infestations to leaky windows to whatever. So we need to empower our code enforcement office to do more. I also need the supplies to vacant buildings as well which we can talk about. But I think landlords and property owners, the big ones are getting off the hook and maybe they need to have a higher level of accountability in the city. Whoa, hello. So you had mentioned rent stabilization. That's something that's been very important in my mind and I'm obviously here. Can you talk a little bit about how something like that could be accomplished? I know like in places like New York City and those big cities that's been there forever but that's never been here. And we've certainly had this like you said for decades like in the 80s and we really need it. So I just wanna see what you think the plan is and how do we move that through? So rent, there's a lot of things that can fall under rent stabilization. One of the biggest ones which Burlington has already weighed in on is just cause eviction rights for tenants, for folks who are renters. So we passed that at over 60% of the electorate it supported that ability for the city of Burlington to create an ordinance to require transparent process frankly for both landlords and tenants to know when eviction is allowable. It is stuck in the legislature and my team keeps telling me to sing my own praises. So I have led on every single charter change for the city of Burlington. There are eight that have been coming through for the last three years and that is the last one to get across the finish line and we're gonna push this. Sorry, when voters pass a charter change here to change our charter which is essentially our constitution for the city has to go under the Vermont constitution to the legislature to affirm any changes before a city or town could proceed. And so they marched down to Montpelier and we have to go through the process there. So this has been two years in the making. We got close but failed by one vote was the governor vetoed that charter change item for Burlington. Now Wynuski and Essex have also passed just cause evictions. So we're hoping to link arms and solidarity with these other communities and get these across the finish line this session. But that is a critical piece of it. The stability can't be understated how important that is for renters and again a really tough rental market. The other piece that I really wish that we would start on the state level because it creates more room for cities like Burlington to do more but is to create a cap on how much rent can be increased. That is different than rent control. It is a simple act of cooling off frankly a very capitalistic response to commodifying housing. And I don't mean to use big words but essentially we need to make sure that we have structures that are fair for folks who are in renting situations as well as still allowing landlords to rent property but within a structure of fairness. I wanna ask about fossil fuels using fossil fuels for heating in our city or we have a lot of work to do in changing our culture to become more walkable so everyone doesn't automatically just jump in their car. But we have this big power plant here the McNeil plant and a couple months ago we saw a presentation at NPAs there was a big article in the seven days about how it's better to burn wood than the fossil fuels gas oil. Although like in my mind a McNeil power plant produces a ton of CO2 and CO2 is what's causing our global warming. So what will you do about the McNeil plant? I thought a lot about this because I lived for 18 years in the old North End in the shadow essentially of McNeil. And in Vermont as folks who look into climate know we basically have two options to try to really impact our carbon footprint and that's transportation and heating. So we have to look at McNeil and we also have to look at how to leverage bigger changes to people's behaviors and choices to make it easy to transition off of a fossil base or carbon based fuel source. So as the city starts to I think it's where housing and transportation really collide in a hopefully a very strategic way we have to be upzoning and infilling housing and a trans over a transportation grid that makes sense that people can access public transportation but to make sure it's free and easy to use and running frequently and coordinated with all these other empty buses we see running for large employers in the area it makes zero sense now. It has to be easier as you said for someone to get onto the bus rather than into their car to get to work. I had someone mentioned earlier they work and they live in the South End they work out kind of where the whales tails are it takes 10 minutes for them to drive it takes an hour and a half to take the bus that's ridiculous at this point, right? So we have to have sort of the visions that understands how things are interconnected in terms of policy and then be building out and both the infrastructure of transportation and housing ways that make sense. For McNeil, I think we need to shut McNeil down and we need a just transition. We need a just transition because I'm also pragmatic we have it's publicly owned and we have the ability to turn it on and off but we have to be pushing our innovation thinking here around finding solutions. This was a tough vote for me and the state house there was not to get super wonky but we've had two votes now in the clean heat standard and then the affordable heat act and this came up often about what are you counting? Biomass is that clean energy source or not? And so I think we have to make sure we're looking at all the options and making sure that we're transitioning away from McNeil even if we can't turn it off tomorrow. I really appreciate hearing that you would support shutting down McNeil and I'm wondering I've thought a lot about how we don't count emissions from McNeil and I firmly believe that we should rest control of our climate action plan from our utility and bring it back to CEDO. How do you feel about that? I'm curious what that would look like if you would support something like that because we simply we don't even count emissions right now from McNeil and really we're being lied to. Residents are being lied to. It's 400,000 tons per year out of the stack. It impacts our forests, whether Burlington Electric will admit it or not and the climate action plans you go on Burlington's website look at the climate action plan. I think 2012 maybe the last iteration of that and now conveniently the focus is strictly on fossil fuels. So this sort of net zero roadmap is a farce. You look all around us, Massachusetts is no longer considering biomass, renewable. New Hampshire isn't for economic reasons. Connecticut is phasing it out, New York is no longer considering it renewable and it's getting embarrassing to be a remonter. It's getting embarrassing to live in Burlington with McNeil. Anyway, thank you. Well, I agree and actually I was gonna reach out to you again because I couldn't believe that the action plans last update was 2012 actually. I was quite embarrassed on behalf of the city if we're really claiming to be an innovative green forward thinking city, we need to, is it not 2012? It's 2019. I thought the CEDO version was 2012. And let's be real with climate change, things are ever changing. And regardless, the point really being here that we have to be continuing to be innovating, this is where Burlington can really shine and help lead the state. But we also have to be truthful and accurate about what we're counting to your point and not changing up definitions. This is what's the struggle around those two bills I mentioned before in the state house. We have to be real. This is a very frank moment and as a mom of two small kids, there is no greater urgency in what kind of planet are we passing off to our children and what other options are out there so that all people's children aren't underneath the stacks of McNeil for much longer. So for the last few years, I guess since the George Floyd incident, the police department has been backing off from protecting people, pursuing petty crime issues. They will literally say to people, oh, we don't have enough staff or we can't do anything about that. So really bogus, quality of life things happen a lot. It has, I think it feels to me like a national strike or a national work slowdown. And I wonder if you would agree with that, to start with, and then what do you think you can do to, and how you maintain it, what kind of relationship will you maintain in the police department? So a bunch of questions there. Yeah, well, gee, no one's asking about the police department. I've all in this race. It's a joke, and I get asked about that every single day. So as a labor organizer, I will say that I find that what most impacts the culture, what most impacts the workplace is culture and it comes from leadership. And I think we have a leadership problem in that department. I will have pretty high expectations of every single department. And that's whether that's CEDO, Department of Public Works or policing, because we have to have a commitment to serve to serve the community. It needs to come straight and clearly from the top of each of these departments. We need a culture of collaboration, innovation back to the other point here around what are we doing with climate and how do we build back a community safety where people really feel and are safe in this community. But I use community safety very strategically than public safety because it's larger than policing. It's around leveraging CEDO and other elements of our city and our state and regional partners to really solve the core reasons of why people are unsafe in our streets. And it also makes sure that we're re-centering folks who are victims of crimes. We have a total disconnect, as I mentioned, between when people have, I don't care if your bike gets stolen or your house gets broken into it, even if you are not physically harmed, that is still harmful to someone in the city. And it erodes that quality of life and trust in our city. So we need an appropriate response. We do not need to send armed officers to every single call for help. But we also need to be victim-centered to make sure that we are responding to folks and leveraging our Paral Justice Center to be able to respond. I remember one of the first times I bought my house, when I bought my house, I was getting harassed for being queer in my backyard. And it was completely unsafe and there was nothing the cops could do at the time. This was like 12, 15 years ago. However, I got a call from Paral Justice and that act alone made me feel like I had someone have my back, I had someone to talk through safety with, I had someone to kind of troubleshoot with. That like made my confidence of my sense of belonging in this community be much more elevated than it would if I was left to my own devices, right? We have to reinstill that. But we need to, again, the police department and the culture that expects that from folks who serve. And one other footnote, there's a lot of reasons why police departments all over the state of Vermont and country are not able to hire and retain police officers. And again, I think if we build a community that has a vision about what we mean by community safety, we will track the right folks to be part of that solution. If you're following up on that, my understanding is that the police union contract will be up in the second term of your hypothetical marriage. I'm curious if there's anything in particular you'd like to see changed in it as you prepare to renegotiate it. Well, that's a great question for a former labor organizer. I would read their contract first. I haven't read their contract to be fair. But I also think that the role of a city in order to, again, think about retention and sending the right tone is to be a fair player at the bargaining table. As I always used to say when organizing, there are no divorces in labor relations, but we have to have a fair back and forth. And I'd have to get back to you on the details of their contract. I haven't looked at it to see how it compares elsewhere and to see. But I also want to emphasize some of the things that all employers are throwing out there around retention bonuses, et cetera, are little plugs in a dam almost that's starting to break. We have to look, I think, deeper about why folks are choosing not to come work at the police department and know that culture shift takes time and we can't always just throw money at it. I think that's a false promise. I don't know what the right word is there. So I can get back to you after we read the contract. That's it. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you so much, Emma. Next, we're going to have a quick conversation about the political participation problem, my peas. And Amy is going to talk to us about that. And don't pop your peas. I'm like a short little commercial just in between this. So yeah, my name is Amy Melnowski. And we're in the midst of many intersecting crises happening here in Burlington and across the world right now. And more and more is getting unveiled about all the ways that our status quo systems are moving us towards death, not life. It seems that there's more and more examples of times when our representatives at all levels of government are not acting in alignment with what many, many of us want. At the city council level, we've seen that when it comes to City Hall Park, Burlington Telecom, F-35s, the Pitt, McNeil Steam pipeline, et cetera. To be a resilient Burlington in the time that we're in, it's become increasingly clear that we can't just rely on elected politicians. We need to be a resilient Burlington. We need to be an organized Burlington. We need to practice listening to each other as neighbors. We need to practice dreaming together. And we need to practice materially building towards a future where all life is precious, in the words of Ruth Wilson Gilmour. We need mechanisms outside of just pure representative politics, which we know is too often swayed by money, and the short-term thinking driven by election cycles. We need to correct the imbalance by shifting more power into the hands of the people. So if everything that I'm saying makes you say, yes, deep in your gut, there's a gathering of neighbors. And we're working to recover more people power here in Burlington. Not in a wildly utopian way, but in ways that already happen elsewhere, even in Vermont. And I'm here to offer for y'all to come join us on this path. We're in the early stages of building out a campaign that we hope our fellow Burlatonians will also see as necessary and irresistible. And if you want to keep in the loop about opportunities to come play, to come eat, to come dream, and to come build real people power with us, please share your email information with me. You can do that by going to bit.ly backslash, BTV people power. That's it, BTV people power. Or you can come find me somewhere, and I will give you the QR code. So yeah, my name's Amy. That's the end of my commercial thing. Thank you so much, Amy. And I just want to add to that the district that I represent, the Central District, wards two and three, we regrettably undervote. We undervote. And because we undervote, we don't have power. And that is the reality of the situation. So we have to do a better job, not only in Central District, but across the district to really put out the numbers, because it will definitely make a big difference. And I think next up, we have Josh. Who's doing fine? Well, go on. Hi, I'm Larry Lewak. I am resident of the South End. And I happen to be one of the three co-founded organizers of the Progressive Party. I'm still here to talk about it. So I'm here mostly just to give a brief pitch for a fair share of contribution to support the Vermont Progressive Party. If you are like me, you are inspired by everything you've heard tonight. And you would like to help out and maybe not sure exactly how, maybe a little press for time between family and work commitments and everything else that we all have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. About two years ago, I accepted an invitation to become a monthly donor to the Vermont Progressive Party. I think I started out at maybe $5 a month, which is what I could afford at the time. I've upped it since to $15 a month. It's a one-shot deal in terms of getting signed up to do it. There's information on the Vermont Progressive Party website about how to sign up to be a monthly donor. If you're not quite there yet, there are envelopes in the back of the room at the registration table that look like this. And you can take one home with you and write a check or put some other information that will enable us to access your credit card or bank account to make a contribution. It's really important that this work be well-supported. And I can't tell you what a great value we get as a party from our now-to-staff people. They go above and beyond every single day. And back when we started this party, it was almost unimaginable that we would be able to support an individual, to have a family, to have a young child, and still be able to do the work of the party that was needed behind the scenes. So it just is really a pitch to chip in if you can. One-time contribution is welcome. A monthly donation is easy once you set it up. You don't have to think about it again. Whatever amount you can afford to give is great. So thank you for your support. And yeah, thanks for being here. Thank you. Thank you, Larry. I'm just going to bring some chairs up for our city council nominees. Do we want them on the stage so they can come up and use the mic? OK, that's fine. So we'll just make sure that we have mics ready to go. Thank you so much. So we are going to kick off nominations. The nominating speeches, two minutes max, please. And then candidate speeches, three minutes each. And then after we have our nominated candidates, we'll do a question and answer for those candidates. Are we good? Yes? Love it. Love it. All right. Seeking a nomination for city council candidate for Ward 1. My name is Gil Livingston. I'm proudly here to ask you all to nominate Carter Leeweiser to serve as the Ward 1 city council representative as a progressive. Where's Carter? Come on up here, buddy. As I said, my name is Gil Livingston. With my wife, Amy, who's in the back, we've lived in Ward 1 on North Street for north of 11 years at this point. And actually our second time in Burlington. She worked for Bernie and for public defender's office back when we were still young. Like all of you, I was stunned by the shooting of three Palestinian students just a bit more than a week ago right now. That shooting happened two blocks from where I live. The spectacular young men were here to visit family at a house two doors away from us. And how can we make sense of that horrible act? I can't make sense of it. And what can I do? I can't. I'm stunned. But frankly, the more I thought about it, and even I've talked about it with friends and family. One starting point, I think, is that we can work harder to treat each other with humanity, which is really the reason I'm so happy to introduce my friend Carter. Carter's humanity begins with curiosity. He's an active, curious listener wherever he goes. His humanity is reflected in caring about everybody who lives in the ward. His humanity shows an ability to work with others irrespective of politics and party. And his humanity is embedded in how much he cares and how much he works to improve our community. So from my perspective, leadership in this moment is embedded in how much he cares and how hard he works to improve our community. His willingness to be careful in his relationships, in his conversations, and generous with his time in serving others. Because I know him to be a generous community servant, I nominate Carter Kneeweiser as the progressive party candidate for Ward 1 City Council. The phone was louder than the paper. Thank you, Gil. That was more than generous at our launch event over in Chimanska Park a couple weeks ago. I had the honor of having Carol speak and that's Wally. And so I just really appreciate it, Gil. So thank you all for coming out tonight. Thank you for all the folks who helped put this together. I've helped organize some of these caucuses in the past and it can be hectic, especially when 120 some out of us are coming together. So thank you to the Progressive Party Steering Committee. I also just wanna thank Councillor Hightower for her service over the last four years toward Ward 1. She has been thoughtful, pushing the needle, bringing folks along who might not be exactly where she is on an issue, spending the time to connect with constituents. And as Emma mentioned, was a champion on just cause eviction and getting that through. So why am I running? I believe strongly that our city is at a crossroads. Utility rates are out of control. And I think the last budget, we just increased them. Property taxes, I've had dozens of conversations with neighbors that they are scared. They've lived here for 40 years. They're scared they're not gonna be able to retire or finish their retirement in their home. And many renters are living in inhumane conditions and are being price gouged by large corporate landlords. Young families like mine struggle to buy their first home, secure decent quality childcare. And our city's budget frankly is facing huge deficits come 2025. We're at our borrowing capacity on our debt and we've lost millions of dollars to lawsuits and the mismanagement of TIP funds. The substance use crisis, which is deeply personal to me as someone who was lucky enough to, five years plus now, sobriety. This issue is, now I'm blushing. This issue is deeply personal because I know so many of the folks, I got sober with so many of the folks that work on the social services side. Workers are getting burnt out. The services that we have are completely at capacity. Any increases we've been able to make over the past few years in capacity. This crisis is totally outpaced those increases. And finally, residents frankly are not informed when we make decisions as a city. The number one thing I keep hearing across, whether someone's a Republican, independent, Democrat, whatever it might be, they do not feel involved in the political process. So it's clear people are struggling and some of the systems we should be able to rely on are not doing the job. While these challenges make me wanna not run for office sometimes, make me wanna not engage in the political process, that could not be farther from the answer. These problems didn't fall from the sky. They are a result of human decisions and can be solved through better, more holistic choices. But this change will not happen until neighbors, regardless of political affiliation, come together around a shared agenda that prioritizes working families, our planet, and communities often left behind by the political system. As a way to hopefully help spark that process and alongside so many other wonderful progressive candidates who you've heard and will hear tonight, I am glad to accept the nomination and excited to hopefully represent Ward 1 on City Council. Thanks everybody. Thank you, Carter. Thank you for stepping up. Do we have any other nominations for Ward 1 Progressive candidate for City Council? Going once, going twice. And it's gone. Yes. And at this time, I'd like to take nominations for Ward 2 City Council. Thank you so much. Hello, I'm Jodi Woos. I'm in Ward 2, and I am thrilled and honored to place the nomination, the name of Jean Birkin, for Ward 2 City Council. Most of you have known Jean for many, many years. You are familiar with his decades of service to all of us, the city of Burlington and the community. Jean is smart. He's organized, he has enormous experience that he's brought to bear in the last two years. He's been in service for our Ward and the whole city as our councilman. Some of you may not know about a project Jean was involved with, which is where I got to know him. And that was the Stockley Airport Expansion Coalition. The airport, our airport is actually part of the city of Burlington, even though it's located in South Burlington. And that makes for a very complicated situation. The airport in their plan is interested in expanding flights by 20% over the next 10 years, which we felt was outrageous given the climate catastrophe. We also know that the emissions from the airport are not counted anywhere at all. Anywhere at all. City of Burlington, South Burlington, State of Vermont, USA, and the world. Pretty crazy. But what the airport wanted to do as part of their expansion is to take 44 acres, wait, I only have a minute. Okay, take 44 acres of land on which there had existed 200 homes for working-class families. They had taken those a number of years ago for noise abatement in the face of first the F-16s and then the F-35s. They wanted to rezone that from residential to airport. So a group of us got together, including Jean, and organized the neighborhood around the airport, the Chamberlain neighborhood. And we made a sink and we attended meetings and people came out. And the happy ending of the story is that we defeated this effort. And so those 44 acres continued to be zoned residential. This effort benefited enormously from Jean's work. He helped us draft resolutions and understand resolutions before the city council. He helped us develop power mapping. He was instrumental in this good work that we did. So I wanna thank you for his work there and I'm thrilled that he's decided to run again for city council. Thank you. I love my neighborhood. Jody lives around the block. For me, I got a chance to meet her in this struggle. And I wanna thank you all for being here because this struggle that we are in, that I've been in since I was 15, would be really lonely without you. It has been an incredibly interesting two years on the city council this time around for me. But I'm really proud of the progress that we've made. But you know, truth be told, it's just far too limited under Murrow, especially having lost two progressive seats last year. Elections make a difference. Elections matter. Let me just give you though, a summary of the pros and the cons, the progress and the lacks lest we forget. We took up all legal resident voting and ranked choice voting, something that had been buried. Again, and we pass them as a city overwhelmingly. And I wanna thank you, Emma, wherever you are kicking. Thank you, Emma, for getting them through the legislature. It really does show what kind of mayor you're gonna be for us. We raise the profile of workers and the benefits that come from being a strong union city, walking the picket lines for UVM support staff, sponsoring and guiding. I'm very proud to have done the passage of a council resolution, supporting the medical center support staff, letting no one be mistaken, the medical center was not happy with that. And through that effort, we got it passed unanimously. That was a really important thing. They won both those unions, won good contracts, and pleased to be part of the process that approved fair union contracts for all of our city unions. Housing, we've heard about the miserable state of housing, something which to be quite frankly, has been an issue since I started community organizing in 1973. But we did pass some housing reforms that should increase the availability of apartments. That's the south end zoning. Gonna give a little bit more air hard, just I'm going a little slower. And the tax on short-term rentals that go into the affordable housing trust fund that pays for affordable housing. But, and I'll get to the things that we did not do in housing in a little bit later. Let me just go through the things that we did do. We passed some good climate measures, the F-35s emissions resolution, the support for North Winooski Avenue businesses to cushion the impacts that the elimination of the parking for the expansion of the bike lanes, which is absolutely making biking safer on Winooski Avenue. So we did that. We tied the elimination of parking minimums for developers to requiring them to increase transportation demand management. And I know this is controversial, but we did, and I really believe that we did place significant requirements on Burlington Electric to reduce stack emissions at McNeil by 25% in five years and 50% in 10 years, to cap its wood burning and to plan for the transition that we all know is necessary based on the climate emergency. And I won't, I'll cut this a little bit shorter to say that we've made some progress on public safety. But let me be really clear, we have failed miserably on a host of all these issues. And we failed because we only had four counselors. It's actually amazing that we got as much as we did done. We failed to get the Kahootz model out of the BED and we actually failed to get it operational even though we funded it. We failed to pass significant police oversight, although we are looking and tonight they're meeting right now to propose charter changes to expand the commission's powers. If, and it's a big if, we can overcome Mero's opposition to that. We failed to get UVM to commit to build enough housing to reduce the significant under-housing of its students, although we actually do have a shot at pushing that through if the Democrats hold and don't fold. And the last thing that is really important though there's a big laundry list, we failed to get significant progressive tax reform adopted even though we did push the mayor for that and even though, thank you, Aaron, that they are including some studies on that. It is a mixed bag, so there is, let me end by saying there is much, much, much that we have to do. I'd really like the endorsement of the Progressive Party for another two years. I'd really like to continue this work for another two years. And I always try to end my saying, my things by saying, la lucha continuara, venceremos. Thank you very much, Council Bergman. And are there any additional nominations for War II City Councilor? Going once, going twice, and it's gone. Thank you, sir. Next up, we have nominations for Ward III. I'd have a tear in my eye because that was the ward I was formerly in. And now I'm in War II, and I love everyone in War II, but I just was feeling some kind of way after a few decades. And we have a nomination, ladies and gentlemen, Joe Kane. And can I say a little something? Is that all right? Excellent, I had the pleasure of meeting Joe. The other evening we had a very long talk. He's new to Burlington, but what brought him to Burlington is he does have family here, sisters here. And I love the fact that he is a primary caregiver for his grandmother. I think that's beautiful. So this was where he wanted to put down some roots. Because I know sometimes people worry about, oh, someone's too new to the area. He has a lot of experience being an activist, door knocking. There's just things that are not gonna be new to him. And I think his values are very much aligned with ours. And I'd like to nominate Joe Kane for Ward III. Thank you. Joe McGee, I think originally was gonna nominate me, but he's sick this evening. I love Burlington, and I cherish the opportunity to live in a place with a vibrant third party where progressive vision isn't fiction, but reality. Progressive policies and ideals make Burlington what it is. A city where the waterfront was not sold, where we have NPA dinners in this room. Where we have robust bike infrastructure, outdoor gyms, a food co-op, community gardens, multiple community newspapers, relative safety for queer folks, a meditation center, a peace and justice center, an empathetic and powerful activist community who run informative programs through town-eating TV, pushed for the establishment of sister cities from Nicaragua to Palestine. For zoning and parking reform, just cause eviction, short-term rental regulation for e-bike rebates, ballet, bike parking, and subsidized grocery trolleys. For rank choice and all resident voting and direct democracy, for needle exchange, pod shelters, and a day station. And for modernizing law enforcement with urban park rangers and community support officers and liaisons that include five social workers. A streamlined fire department response, the Kahootz model effort that was mentioned earlier, and a state's attorney who takes a holistic view and commends police forces that work with community justice centers to integrate modern court diversion through practices of restorative justice. Part of my motivation to run for council is frankly to have the opportunity to participate, to have the privilege of participating in this wonderful progressive project that we call a city. Then to further explain my motivation for running, I was actually watching some videos of previous nominations and I watched Joe McGee originally run against some other folks. One of the other people who ran, his name is Ryan Adorio, you might be here for all I know. He said that his motivation to run was that he wanted other people to be able to live the life that he was living, that he loves his life in Burlington and I have frankly the same motivation because it's clear a lot of folks are having the worst time of their lives in our beautiful, expensive and cold city. We confront houselessness, crime, public substance abuse, needles left in public spaces, graffiti, an expensive high school rebuild, a terribly polluted lake, a labor shortage, a housing shortage, an aging housing stock in a high interest rate environment and I am motivated by the same urge as Ryan. I swim at the Y, I jog, rock, point. I bike to Grand Isle to pick apples. I paddle the Winooski, I participate in affinity groups for things that I care about, all while surrounded by very visible pain and anguish of fellow Burlingtonians. I don't have quick fix solutions to make life beautiful for everyone in Burlington, but I'm committed to this community and to forwarding the progressive vision of what this city can be. I get frustrated watching democratic city counselors listen to passionate, well-informed public comment. Time and time again, voting against it as in the recent cases of confirming Marad as police chief, expanding the airport lease, expanding McNeil, the privatization of Burlington Telecom, siding with special interest groups in the case of the boycott, divestment and sanctions resolution that came out of the racial equity and inclusion subcommittee in 2021. The effort to privatize church street during the Maraud administration. As Emily Reynolds put it, she might be here for all I know as well in an article I read at the Digger, the downtown innovation district, the effort to privatize church street is an agenda to privatize the city, to raise the rent and to develop the city into a neoliberal hellhole. Can we trust a Democrat to stand up to the greedy and powerful who seek to privatize public assets or to the military industrial complex or to a police force that doesn't want accountability? If I trusted the Democrats to do that, I would not be running. I think I have a skill set to be helpful, organizational skills, attention to detailed number crunching skills honed as a compliance auditor in the financial services industry as an economist with experience working for the housing finance agency, as an academic doing research on universal basic income, Medicare for all, as a teacher teaching economics and stats courses. But more important than any hard skills or experience I can count, my greatest strength is my compassion. And that takes me to Joe McGee. I can't imagine representing you all better than Joe has. He's demonstrated vast amounts of empathy, patience and integrity during his time serving on council. I'm genuinely disappointed that he is not running for reelection and can't hope to do any better than serving in his image. There are a few versions of a well-known quote to the effect that the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members. The many people struggling in our city whose well-being is necessary for the well-being of each of us are let down by systemic problems that progressive policy can fix by getting to the root causes. Joe understands this better than anyone and it would be an honor to succeed him in Ward 3. Thank you. Thank you so much. I feel ripped up. Do we have any additional nominations for Ward 3 city councilor? Going once. Going twice. And it's gone. Thank you so much for stepping out here again. Next up, do we have any nominations for Ward 4 city councilor? Any nominations for Ward 4? All right, maybe we will come back to that. Do we have any nominations for Ward 5? We have discussion, we have head nodding, we have whispers, Ward 5. Nominations for Ward 6? Nominations for Ward 6? This brings us now to nominations for Ward 7. It gives me a great pleasure to nominate my friend and comrade Lee Morgan for Ward 7's city council seat. And then they're amazing. When we fought to give some humanity and justice for the folks at Sears Lane, Lee was there. She was there on the street with folks. She was there working, they, sorry, thank you. You're right. They were there when people on the street, they were there in the policy discussions. They were there in relationship to the police and all the rest of the authorities. And they were there when we decided that we were gonna craft an alternative. An alternative that said that if the city is going to take care of the homeless problem, if you're going to take care of those people, then you better well damn have a policy that you will adhere to. And what we did was craft a policy based on lived experience. They have real lived experience. They have got governing experience as a parks commissioner. They have the community experience that we actually can use to elect a person from Ward 7, from the new North End that will do us proud. I am very proud to put in nomination the name of Lee Morgan for that position. Thank you all so much. For me, it is incredibly special to be nominated by Jean. Jean was the first person outside of my family that I told I was going to run and Carter was the second. So to be sharing this night with them, I will remember this forever. So my name is Lee Morgan. I live in Ward 7. I wasn't born here. I got here as fast as I could. I hope for the past few weeks, I've gotten to share with many of you how I first became John to living a life of service to others. From a very early age, I have known that I wanted to serve my community and build a better world. My elementary school was named after a man whose life continues to impact my work. Jonathan Daniels, a civil rights hero who made the ultimate sacrifice while registering black voters after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Growing up attending Jonathan Daniels Elementary, hearing his story and values and seeing his pictures every day in the halls helped shape how I saw the world. There was a common good and I would be on that side. In my early teens, life became very complicated. My story is not an easy one to tell. My biological parents have challenges that made parenting very difficult for them. My mother was a single mom for a large part of my childhood and we looked paycheck to paycheck. Like many Vermonters, I have struggled with substance use disorder as have members of my family. When I entered recovery 15 years ago at the age of 22, my future was uncertain. When I reached one year of sobriety, I took stock. I may have lost my way for a while, but now I had a chance to build a real life for myself. Inspired by the many people who helped me through the first year of sobriety, I again centered myself in the value of service to others. As a queer and trans person, I have had to stand up for myself and my neighbors. I have been the odd one out and when folks talk about being a voice for the voiceless, I have been with the voiceless. I have seen the brutality of our systems and also the decency of people in an almost inexplicable way. As someone who is in recovery and formerly unhoused, I know the interlocking challenges we face intimately. I've worked in the healthcare field most of my adult life, covering a lot of roles, including working as an EMT and working specifically with folks who have developmental disabilities. In the height of the COVID pandemic, I was a medical courier serving three hospitals in two states. Time and time again, what I saw was the brutality of our systems, the way that our healthcare system works for profit, not to keep us healthy. I believe we are all bound together by our common humanity and what we are doing is not humane. That is why I became a progressive. Our human rights should not be for sale. They should not be sold to the highest bidder. They should be guaranteed and that means good healthcare, good childcare, good housing and a good life for all our citizens. I came to the Queen City for the first time when my previous job ended. When I visited Burlington for the first time as a trans non-binary person, I felt safe and away I never had before. Burlingtonians embraced me and encouraged me to pursue my passion to make change. Before too long, I fell in love in Burlington. My husband and I have made a home in the New North N and since then, this community has been there for me and I have shown up for my community. We can do this. We can build a better Burlington and the face of immense challenge, we stand up and reject bigotry and pessimism. I remain optimistic despite our challenges. I know together we can lean in, organize and create a better world. With the Queen City taking the lead. I know we can get immediate healthcare resources to our citizens and create a public safety environment that supports all our people. I know we can empower our labor movement and protect our planet. I know we can go forward together. Building bridges between neighbors while standing up to the powerful interests. You know, someone like me has never won in the New North End. I would appreciate your support in making that happen. Let's go forward together. Thank you so much, Sue. And do we have any other nominations for award seven? Going once, going twice. And it's gone. We love you and Thuzy as we young ladies. Nominations for award eight. I would like to nominate Merrick Broderick for award eight city council this year. So my name is Nick. I'm the steering committee member for award eight, fairly new to Burlington. So one of the joys of moving to a new area has been getting to know all of you folks and getting to know some of the people who have made a decision to run this year. One of those people that I've had a good chance to get to know is Merrick. And I think that, you know, one of the things that has really stuck out to me is Merrick has really impressed me by how ready he is to take on this role. He's dedicated. He's already doing the work out in the community. He's been in Burlington for three years and has been consistently out doing community organizing, getting involved. With that, he's passionate. He's been involved in the labor movement standing on the picket line with workers at the UAW and trying to do as much as we can in Burlington to stand in solidarity with those folks. I believe he's the kind of person we need in a seat like this where we can trust a prog to get the job done. When, not if, but when we control the mayor's office and the city council at the end of the selection cycle, I will be proud to call Merrick a critical vote in getting our agenda passed going forward. And Merrick's priorities are in my opinion, the long-term vision we should be driving towards here in Burlington. Merrick wants to make Burlington a city that puts people and planet above profit. That means investing in housing for all social infrastructure and policy that seriously addresses our responses to the climate change. That's the kind of leadership we need as a Ward 8 resident. Merrick is the person I want to represent me because I trust him to get the job done and work with our party to move forward. He's dedicated to this movement, to our struggle, and I have no doubt in nominating him that he will push for the change we desperately need. Thank you, and thank you, Merrick, for running. Wow, thank you so much, Nick. So, as was said, I'm Merrick Broderick and I'm seeking a nomination for Ward 8 City Council. Both on campus at UVM and off campus Ward 8 resident, there's a lot of things that drew me here. I am from South of Boston, Massachusetts, and the last thing that I wanted was to be there, and despite touring schools all across the Eastern Seaboard, I just felt at home in this city, and I still feel at home in this city, but there's a lot of things that would not just make me feel more a part of this city, but all of us feel more a part of this city. With such low vacancy rates here, I don't see how a lot of us can even call this place a home with these prices for housing and the unhoused. I just cannot see myself standing idly while people suffer like that, so that's why I want to run. I see a vision of housing for all in Burlington. Greener, more climate friendly Burlington, and a Burlington with the social infrastructure that speaks to people's materialistic needs and puts them for profit before anyone. That's why I'm running, thank you. Thank you so much, Merritt. And any other nominations for Ward 8? Going once, going twice, and it's gone. Quick reminder for anyone who's listening, watching, maybe watching later on town-meeting TV, four, five, and six, think about it. We welcome you, we embrace you. This is an election that is really going to bring balance to our city, balance that we don't have right now. So, like everyone to think about that. So we're gonna take some questions for the candidates. We have a microphone around, so if anyone would like to raise their hand, we have one. Oh, you certainly can. Will Anderson for Ward 6? Yes. Yes. Hello, everyone, I'm back. I'm not sure, I guess there's either bread or cake from over there that nominated me. I didn't really do anything to seek the nomination this year because I increasingly think that a lot of the solutions to problems on Burlington that we have in Burlington need to be solved on the state level. But considering there's no other progressive candidates that really came forward to run in Ward 6 where I live, I would be really honored and more than happy to run again for the city council for the progressive party. Well, I'll try to be brief. For those of you that don't know me, I'm a financial economic analyst for the state government. I also work for the housing finance agency. I'm the state treasurer for the progressive party. I'm also an alternate commissioner for Green Mountain Transits and a graduate student in public administration at UVM. And this is all to say that I am obsessed, obsessed with figuring out how we can change our public policy to make people's lives better because our system is designed and geared so that people who are already rich can keep getting richer, all right? Like, that's just the way it is. I've benefited from that in my life, but I don't think it's fair. And I think that there are some ways, even though a municipal level, that we can change it. And I think the biggest root problem, the biggest root problem we can address is that people have to pay way too much to find a place to live. Look at it this way. 34% of renters in Burlington pay more than 50% of their income on rent. I mean, it's acceptable. And then another 60% pay over 30%. And I'm one of them. I'm guessing a lot of you are as well. We're looking at property taxes. Where our new school bond vote, the property taxes are gonna arise substantially. And as I campaigned for last year for the city council in the South District, I think the best solution to this is try to shift some of this property tax burden on non-occupied multi-family homes. Also called the non-homestead tax. It's a very small differential. I also am fully in support of Representative Mulvaney Stank's rent stabilization measure. I campaigned for this last year. I think we should tie it to the consumer price index. I think that we should get just cause eviction so that people can't be evicted based on this. I think that we should implement an anti-speculation tax so that when people come in here and invest on properties, if they try to sell it off at a higher price, then we collect revenue on that. There are ways to prevent austerity and simultaneously make it more affordable for people who are vulnerable to live here. So in addition to a platform-based policy campaign, much like the one I ran last year, which I think has even better shot considering, I actually might be able to cover the entire district this year on foot, it's also redistricted to include a lot more students at the University of Vermont. But I'm gonna run a platform oriented campaign, focusing on housing, talking about specific housing policies that we can use to make this city more affordable, address the root causes of why folks here are so desperate. And then also, my pet project, as many of you know, just over an hour and a half north of here is a city of over 2 million people, a metropolitan area of 4 million, one of the most global cities in the world, every culture you can imagine, and the same drive and creative energy as Burlington. I will, as your city councilor, endeavor to increase our relationship and our ties to the city of Montreal and the province of Quebec. It's an economic driver that we are not using enough. Better transit there, we have to find a way to break through these two barriers, the border and the language barrier. They're not insurmountable, and if we do, this whole new source of revenue, this whole new source of creative energy we can tap into with our city. Thank you, look forward to seeing on a campaign trail. You're all really wonderful, and I'll do my best to get on the city council and represent Montreal. Thank you. Thank you so much, Will. Going once, twice, and that's a wrap. Thank you. And now, we will have questions for our candidates for the next few minutes. They have the mic. Is there a mic for the audience? We have a raised hand over here. Thank you. Buddy, thanks for running. I'm Lucie Gluck, and I live in World 2, and I know you're all gonna work hard when you're elected to solve all these problems you've been talking about. I'd like to hear very briefly from each one of you. Very quickly, will you help us get rid of the F-35s, please? So I have the mic, so I think I'll hop right in here. So again, I'm Lee Morgan, Ward 7. So I was very excited about the resolution that the council passed. I don't know if that was unanimous, I can't quite remember, but it took an environmental approach to the F-35s advocating for the mass reduction of flights and advocating a primary use of flight simulation, and I was ecstatic about that. Yes, I will be working together with the F-35s. They are a stain on our city. They are a noise that we just cannot, we don't deserve to have to live with. The deafening noise, the pollution, yes. As of yet, I have not figured out what policy levers the city council can use to stop the F-35s. If anyone can show me how we can do that in the city council, I'd happily embrace it because I know how concerned many of you are. I would just say that any true progressive would not support the F-35s and certainly would not call them a jobs program, which both Bernie and Becca have done. So I made a commitment at the lease resolution meeting about putting forward a resolution on changing the mission, which is what needs to be to get rid of the F-35s. There has to be another mission for the guard some way. I am committed to doing that. I'm working with folks on that. I'm hoping that we can come forward with something actually relatively soon. And I think, Will, that that is the mechanism, the best mechanism for us to be able to do that. This is decision, I'm sorry for going a little bit long, but a decision that the Air Force makes and a decision that the congressional delegation has a tremendous authority on. And I think that we can do a much better job of putting pressure to bear on the delegation, particularly if we can use not only the Burlington City Council, but Wenduski and Williston and South Burlington. And you heard the whole region speak about this. I actually think that we can make something happen or at least we can engage in that struggle. Yeah, I'll just say briefly, this was an issue, this in Burlington Telecom in 2018 was the first issues that I got involved deeply in in Burlington. A war machine does not, every time I have a Zoom call, is not to shake my house for us to know that that is a bad idea to have based at the airport. And most recently I was disappointed, I think I would have voted differently. The recent decision around the airport lease, regardless of the F-35, to me it's an issue of democracy because I wanna do my best to represent as many people in my ward if I'm voting. And they just signed off our ability as a city to make decisions about our airport until 2075. But that is, yeah, there's not words. So even separate from the whole F-35, just as a matter of good governance and putting the city in as strategic a position as possible. It's just a mistake. Hey everyone, thanks for being here tonight. And yeah, I appreciate everyone's focus on housing, which is a really big issue to me. And I just wanna get a quick audience poll. I'm curious historically if anyone in this room has supported anti-apartheid activism in South Africa when that was the case. I'm just curious to get a historical perspective. Cool. And then I'm curious to ask the city councilors, current day apartheid, do you all support the apartheid free city ballot initiative? Yeah, I'm happy to start. In short, I do. And the language can change. So I wanna make sure that the language on the ballot, I've had a chance to actually read when it's finalized, but it seems like a pretty non-controversial statement affirming human rights. And I think as a party, we've always stood for that. And I'm proud to stand for that as a candidate. The short answer is yes. I fought long and hard against the apartheid South African regime. I am a proud Jew who does not support the apartheid system in Palestine and spoke at the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions a resolution a couple of years ago as a private citizen. This is very important and very personal to me. And it seems totally appropriate that we as a city council, and as city councilors, as this would go to the voters, stand in opposition to systems of oppression throughout the world. And I will support that and did sign it. I support Burlington taking the apartheid free community pledge. I work on this. I actually recognize a bunch of people here from having knocked your doors, going for signatures to get this on the ballot. I think Burlington is uniquely positioned as a really progressive city to lead. And I think if we show leadership on this issue that other cities could take similar measures. So this pledge, this apartheid free community pledge has been taken by hundreds of organizations, mostly religious organizations, and we would be the first city to pass it. And already people in other cities are saying, oh my gosh, I wanna go for the same thing in my city. If we pass it, then it's gonna spread like wildfire potentially. I mean, this is a recipe for success that we've seen time and time again for putting international pressure on regimes like the South African regime, which was designed by the Zionists. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I'm really liking what I'm hearing. So I'll say yes for now and get back to you if I read it and find there's something in there that I can't get behind. I don't think that's very likely. So yes. So let me be absolutely clear. I call for a immediate and lasting ceasefire. As far as the specific proposed ballot measure goes, I haven't read the language yet. It's incredibly important to me that any ballot measure that comes forth through petition that I offer the organizers a chance to meet with me so I can become fully educated on it before I issue a decision. So my email is lee at leeforberlington.com if the organizers could reach out, we'll have a coffee and talk about it. In short, yes, I support the apartheid free city pledge and I find a lot of value in the city council and this progressive city council taking a stand of solidarity with the people of Palestine because the people above us, they either still do not or they did not until mass organizing of the people of Burlington took place. So it is so important that not only the voters, but also the local elected officials take a stand to have an apartheid free city and end the suffering of Gaza. My name is Cheryl, I live in Ward 1 and I'm interested to hear from each of you how you could plan to work alongside Emma for May or during this campaign period. So I'm just realizing that you all will be doing a lot of door knocking, meeting a lot of people. Is there a possibility that you also be sure to say and do you know Emma Mulvaney Stanek and let me tell you something about her that and why I'm supporting because you have a tremendous outreach possibility for her campaign as well, thank you. So short answer, yes, definitely. Especially during my campaign last year in the South District, I really saw my mission not only or perhaps last year even more so not as much trying to get myself elected as trying to spread the word about our party, about our ballot initiatives and about how we are trying to use policy to make things better for people in our city. It seems like Representative Mulvaney Stanek is really behind that, her May oil campaign. So I'll back her all the way, I'll spread the word and I'll try to work directly with her, especially on housing policy, which as you can tell is area of particular interest to me and seems like one in which we're quite aligned. So I will definitely be trying to coordinate campaigns and trying to get the mayor, Mulvaney Stanek majority of votes in Ward six, thank you. I'm really excited that Emma's running. I think that Emma should be viewed as the favorite and yeah, I'm proud to be associated with her campaign and certainly will advocate for her as an outdoors. I've known Emma for a long time, so let me, I've used much extra time so let me just say yes. Yeah, I'll also keep it short, yes. We also just all got the progressive nomination so I wanna give us all time to actually have the conversations around coordination but absolutely, Emma would be a great mayor and excited she's running. So I first got to know Emma through my NPA and actually Emma really impressed me. As we know when trans and queer people thrive, reactionary forces will rise up against us and when I experienced egregious discrimination at my NPA, Emma reached out through a mutual friend within hours to offer her support and I will always remember that. I'm really excited to hear Emma talk about public safety. I feel like we are really in lockstep and my vision and Emma's vision for public safety and I am looking forward to how we can spread that word through the new North end to get an understanding that public safety can work for everybody and make everybody feel safe. Yes, I'm very excited to be working with Emma throughout this campaign and I think my ward, Nick's ward and Carter's ward are especially positioned to be very involved with Emma's campaign as well because that is where the UVM, that's where UVM is and in my ward that's where Champlain is. So I think we are especially positioned to turn out the student vote, not only for ourselves but for Emma. My name is Mark Montabon, I'm in Ward 4. So I've been in Burlington since 1987 and what I've seen the Democratic Party do or what we call the Democratic Republican establishment in the new North end is a implicit, tacit acceptance, a transphobia, homophobia and racism and now a situation that while I'll never support a Democratic candidate in Ward 4, even if it's Sarah, is that for winning the votes, I call it the Carl Rove method and we all know Carl Rove's history. If you get one vote ahead, even if you don't challenge the homophobic, classist, racist junk that's going on in our city, you win. And so what I like to see right to the point is when you face your Democratic opponent or the Democratic Republican opponent, we talk about Ward 7, to call them out and force them because what I've seen organizing and I would say to be honest, there's a good, not a good but a high proportion that a racist transphobic homophobic almost won Ward 7, the last election and missed by just a couple of votes. So we need to force the opponent to call that out and I'll look the other way because they are more accommodating to the phobias and that has to be discussed because that's allowed to exist within our city since I was here working and running stuff to get Bernie elected and re-elected back then that we should take accountability because our city has an ugly past and a part of an ugly present and we need to make sure that it does not continue in the future and I'll do a lot of work across the street over in Ward 7 because we need to confront those issues and make sure people don't get away with their isms to support quote-unquote the opponent to the progressives. Not a comfortable thing to talk about but we should acknowledge that. We should never let anyone get away for the sake of getting more votes than us and just want a feedback. I know I didn't mean to go as a platitude but that's part of what I want to bring up as a new North Ender in four. Untar this and we got to call it out and make sure our opponents call it out too and not rely on this vote. Enough said, sorry. Yes, I completely agree with what you're saying. We cannot let our opponents get away with their, with their prejudice against the citizens of Burlington and that is something that I think has been well ignored in this whole cycle when it comes to public safety, public safety. I'm afraid. Who are you afraid of? And that's the question that I think we need to be asking when public safety is brought up. I really appreciate hearing my neighbors talk about this because as I said, I've been going through it in the new North End but I remain optimistic that this is not the common view. It's just sometimes a loud view and we can rip this out, root and stem but we have to work together. I am the most dangerous thing to this anti-trans ideology because I'm trans, I'm open, I'm happy. And I gotta tell you, I almost don't wanna say this because it might affect my fundraising but do you know what the single best thing for my fundraising has been? Every time an anti-trans publication has put something out against me I see an immediate bump in my fundraising, immediate. So if my trans publication put something out on me Saturday night and Sunday I had my single largest fundraising day and it was completely motivated by this rhetoric. So I gotta tell you, I gotta thank the TERFs because they paid for my ad buy. So thank you. Yeah, I mean, obviously I won't hesitate to call out any prejudice on part of my opponent. However, I am looking forward to see who will run against me in Ward six. And I'll also say that I do unto others as they do unto me and I will not attack personally whoever it is. I will attack their rhetoric, I'll attack their policy but it's not me to go after a person just for who they are. So I'm very hopeful that whoever runs against me in Ward six doesn't have any rhetoric like that because I think there's absolutely no place for it in our city. And if it does come out then I'll be the first one to call it out, thank you. I'll just say that I agree with Lee that that sort of rhetoric is gonna hurt their campaigns whether we say anything or not and the advice that I've received so far has been to focus on my own conduct and just try to portray myself really following in Joe's footsteps with his demeanor and I think that's gonna get votes and that person's not gonna have a voice after the election in any case. I always feel an obligation to speak out when wrong is being done. And it actually helps when you have a connection with people. I mean, when you're close to black folk and racist crap comes out, it's an extra spark. When you're close to trans folk, to queer folk, it's the same thing. So we'll raise it every time it rears its ugly head and there'll be opportunities for us to on an affirmative basis be promoting policies which promote inclusion and to bigotry and to hate and we'll push that out too. Yeah, I don't know if I'm gonna be more eloquent than everybody in this room. I'm sure it could be as well. It shouldn't be a controversial issue in Burlington. It does pop up often, it seems, down the street from the Ward 1 MPA that I've been going to monthly now. Three kids were just shot because of the amount of hate bubbling up to the surface all across the country. Yeah, yeah. And I'll just say too, I mean, as a kid who went through all Catholic schooling in New England, Connecticut, who is not straight, it's been really frustrating and markedly different the older I get, so I appreciate it. Ooh, there we go. Thank you so much for our nominees and thank you for your questions and we can have one more round of applause for the people who stepped up. Yeah. And I just once again, I wanna use that word balance because we're seeing a city of extremes right now. What happened to those three young men would not have happened. It wasn't a vacuum. We're tolerating too much hate speech. Yes, people have freedom of speech, but when we think about what hate speech is and how it affects the fabric of our society, that really means something. Thank you again to our candidates and I think Larry's coming back and we're gonna talk about the importance of volunteering and then next up will be Ward, clerk, and inspectors of election nominees. So real briefly, Larry Wack again, I just wanted to talk a little bit about the importance of volunteer help and engagement for all of our campaigns. So all of these candidates who were up here a minute ago, they need our help to move their campaigns forward. Ever since we first had progressive campaigns in Burlington, I've pushed myself out the door when I've been asked to help with door knocking, to put out flyers. There's always a need for people to make phone calls, to assist with the day-to-day grunt work that campaigns need. And one thing I forgot to say before, in my fundraising pitch was, one of the things that's really different characterizes what's really different about progressive campaigns from what you see during Moreau's various campaigns and some of the city councilor's races who run as Democrats is that we don't have the funds to do top-down campaigning. So a lot of times, if you've been in the city for a while, you've probably received many mailers from these well-funded campaigns that were supported by the mayor's Political Action Committee, which are largely, that's largely a corporate-funded endeavor. Well, the progressive party does not accept corporate campaigns donations. We never have and we never will. And one of the things that is really the secret sauce in our success is that we have a small, very passionate and very dedicated army of folks who are willing to give up some time on weekends and evenings and get out there and help promote these wonderful candidates at the council level and city-wide campaigns like for mayor. So just to put it simply, we need your help. You're probably gonna be contacted by campaigns. You don't have to wait until you are asked to help. You can let the campaigns know that you're available. You don't even have to live in the city to help out. We would love to have everyone who is here tonight be willing to put in at least two or three shifts during the upcoming campaign. We know it's not easy to get out there in the middle of winter when the temperatures are frigid and you'd probably rather be at home with a cup of hot tea and your feet up. But it's pretty exciting to be part of a campaign of really dynamic candidates who are bent to do great things for the city if they get the support they need. So please respond when you're asked to help. Come out and give your candidate a boost. Help Emma win the control of the mayor's office for our great party. And we look forward to seeing you out there on the streets. Thanks. Thank you so much and thank you all for holding in. We're almost there. So the next nominations and people can self nominate as well are for ward clerks and inspector of elections. So we're going to do both for each ward. Is that clear to everybody? Does that make sense? Great. Now don't make me be like a school teacher, y'all. We just have to hold on a few more minutes. So ward one, ward clerk. Any nominations? Ward one, ward clerk. Ward one, inspector of elections. Ward one, inspector of elections. Moving on. Ward two, ward two, ward clerk. My pet issue. So not all of the ward clerks are open this year. Like ward two, I got elected last year and because I'm still in ward two, I'm still in. But like ward three, Charlie got bounced out because of the redistricting. So not all of the wards are open. We'd have to actually look it up. But there's always an inspector of elections slot open. And if you just have a little bit of time to give, to have more progressives on the ballot with that P there shows that we're everywhere. On odd number years, we only have one election town meeting. And then on even number years, we have town meeting primary and the November election. And it's a way to not do something as huge as city council or mayor, but it just shows that the progressives are everywhere. So really think about doing the little job, which is a big job, an election day of inspector of election. But I wasn't prepared with the list of which ward clerks are open. Ward three is open due to the redistricting. For those of you who haven't heard the town meeting day 2024 is the new redistricting is in effect. So you can always go to the city clerk when you go to the city's website and you click on departments and city clerks, they have maps you can type in your address so that you know exactly what ward you are in. If you lived in ward three, there were a lot more changes than I think we all realized and a lot of people moved to two. And it'll be important to know where you need to vote as well. Hey, Sam Powers for Ward three clerk. Yes. Would you like to say a few words? Hi everybody. I'll make this really quick. Ward clerks, you know, nonpartisan position, but yeah, I've worked at the polls probably five times since I've been able to vote. So I have a decent amount of experience. I learned a lot from Charlie and I hope to fill his shoes. Yeah, so thanks so much. Thank you, Sam. Anyone for Ward three inspector of elections? We will have two open slots for inspector of elections, but I am currently an inspector of elections, which means there's only one slot open for a prog. Okay, one spot open for a prog for Ward three inspector of elections. Somebody, please. Yes, no. It's a good position to get your foot in the door, get some experience. All right. Are we, just a quick question, is someone keeping track of what we need to re-advertise because we can certainly take candidates for later. So just to make a note of that. Ward four, is there any interest in Ward four? I was too busy talking, but Laura McKenna is the current and she's up for re-election as a progressive. So I would like to nominate Laura McKenna as inspector of election in Ward two. Okay, great. Anyone, I think that was it then for Ward two. Great, we do Ward three. Anyone for Ward four? For Ward four clerk or inspector of election? Ward five, Ward clerk or inspector of election? Ward six, Ward clerk or inspector of election? Ward seven, Ward clerk or inspector of election? And Ward eight. Ah, excellent. Would you like to say a few words? Come on up. Thank you, thank you, Trey, for nominating me as I was talking with Adam about being nominated. That was exciting. I just moved to Burlington here in August, but I grew up in St. Albans, Vermont, 30 minutes north of here, so I've always been involved in Burlington. I'm on the progressive steering committee, just getting involved now. And being inspector of elections, it sounds another way to get involved in political skills. So I have a very exciting, thank you all. Thank you so much. So for the other positions, if you decide later on that you're interested or you talk to friends or neighbors, letting them know that these might be great spots for them to just to start to get involved. So we really appreciate that. Our friend, Council Birdman, has some closing remarks. Thank you so much, Uncle Gene. Well, I've been told that I speak like molasses way too slow by my wife, Wendy Coe. So I'm gonna try to speed this up because this is like the end of the night. But let me first close by saying thank you to everybody who worked on this because it does not happen without the workers who make it happen. So let's give them a round of applause. The second thing I wanna say is that I am just amazed that our, for the most part, radical democratic socialist party is still here and continues to thrive and grow 40 years after we had the spirit to create it. But you know, we are. It's freaking amazing when you think about it. And just be really clear, and I wish that the room is a little fuller because it's important for us to constantly remind ourselves. But we are not alone. We have progressive counselors and candidates who are willing to challenge the system and push for transformational change. But you know what? We have movements on climate and labor and racial justice and they are doing the same thing in this community and they bring it to the council. All of us together are saying another world is possible. This, my friends, is very hard work. The system will not change on its own. The Burlington Democrats will not change it, but change is absolutely essential if we're gonna keep this planet habitable for our babies and for most other life on it. And it is essential if we're going to bring justice to our world. Noam Chomsky says that the smartest way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow a very lively debate within that spectrum, even encourage more critical and dissident views. People then feel that there's free thinking going on, but all the while, the system's values are being reinforced by the limits that are placed on that small range of the debate. Well, we have and we will continue to reject these limits. We will continue to push open the windows of acceptable political discourse. There's a Puerto Rican poet, disabled woman by the name of Aurora Levins Morales. And she says this powerfully in her poem Via Hafta. And this is just a very small excerpt. She says, say these words when you lie down and when you rise up. Imagine winning. This is your sacred task. This is your power. Imagine every detail of winning, the exact smell of the summer streets in which no one has been shot, the muscles that you have never unclenched from worry, gone soft as newborn skin, the sparkling taste of food when we know that no one on earth is hungry, that beggars are fed, that the old man under the bridge and the woman wrapping herself in thin sheets in the backseat of a car and the women who suck of the children who suck on stone's nest under a flock of roofs that keep multiplying their shelter. Lean with all your being toward the day when the pour of the world shake down a rain of good fortune out of heavy clouds and justice rolls down like thunder. And do not waver. Do not let despair sink its sharp teeth into your throat, into the throat in which you sing. Escalate your dreams. Escalate our dreams. Make them burn so fiercely that you can follow them down any dark alleyway of history and not lose your way. Make them burn clearly as a starry drinking gourd over the grim fog of exhaustion and keep walking, hold hands, share water, keep imagining so that we and the children of our children's children may live. My friends, we have it in our power once again to make history and elect a progressive mayor and city counselors. Another city is possible where our values of solidarity and empathy, justice and equity are realized with your help tonight and in the coming months in March and beyond we will win. Let's make it so. So thanks everybody. I think that's about the end of it. So just a reminder, as folks are leaving, so if you registered for the caucus or either pre-registered or registered in person here, gave us your email address. We will email you a ballot. I'm gonna work to get those out either tonight or by tomorrow morning as quickly as possible. So keep an eye out for the link from OpalVote and you will be able to vote. And also if you or anyone you know is interested in running in wards four, wards five or wards four or wards five for city council or any of the wards for inspector of elections or word clerk, we can still do that right up through the filing deadline. So just let us know we're still recruiting. So what an exciting day. Thanks so much everyone and have a great night.