 by town meeting television. This is one of many forums we are bringing you in advance of local elections and town meeting on the first Tuesday in March, March 1st 2022. Town meeting is traditionally where voters weigh in on local government representation, municipal budgets, school budgets and local ballot items. All candidates on the ballot are invited to participate in Town Meeting TV's election forums. Town Meeting TV election forums introduce you to community decision makers and connect you with the issues that shape your local community. My name is Emily Brewer and I will be moderating tonight's forum between the candidates running for two open seats on Winooski City Council. And now both of these seats are two-year terms. If you are watching this live, we would love to hear your questions. Please call us at 802-862-3966. And you can watch Town Meeting TV on Comcast Channel 1087, Burlington Telecom Channel 17 and 217 as well as online at Town Meeting TV's YouTube page. With that said, let's get started with opening statements. Now for the purpose of simplicity, we will go down the list alphabetically and each candidate has a minute to introduce themselves. So Chad, we will start with you. Can you please tell us why you are running and what will be different for Winooski if you are elected? Yes, I'm running to... I think it's important to have a diverse type of people on the board. When you take a bunch of people from different backgrounds, upbrings, age groups, and you put them together and they brainstorm, you can come up with some pretty good ideas on how to make things better. So that's what I'm hoping to bring to the board. I have a different background. I've always worked in the automotive field and service and I'm hoping that when we get together as a group and brainstorm, we come up with some pretty good ideas. Great. Thank you very much. We will move on to... Let's move on to Matt. Thanks, Emily. I think I'm going to be a little unconventional here because I don't think I'm actually the best candidate for the city council here in Winooski. I was sort of interested in serving in the community that I moved into in November of 2020 because I had an extensive amount of experience in local government being on the select board just up the road in Georgia, Vermont. There were some things that I had talked to some folks here in Winooski that I think I could bring my experience to. But when I made the decision to run for city council, I didn't know we would have so many excellent choices. I would like to take this minute and just say I think there are other people who would better serve Winooski than myself. And I look forward to figuring out a way where I can help this vibrant energetic, lovely community that I'm already feeling at home. Thank you, Matt. All right. We will move on to... Let's see. Aurora. Hi there. Thank you so much. Why I am running for city council is and why I'm excited to be running is because I do want to ensure that voices of all of our residents are being heard. I have lived in the community for five plus years and I've been serving on the Winooski Library Committee since 2017. This has given me a really good insight into the amazing work that the city is doing and also made me want to really help and step up and do my duty as a resident in a new capacity. And I'm a firm believer that representation matters and it's really exciting to be part of such a large candidate pool and to be running in such an exciting race. Also excited that this is our first race with all resident voting. So it's really an honor to be a part of that. And one and something that would change if I'm elected. I'm gonna go back and really think about bringing the voices to the table who aren't there. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Aurora. All right. Thomas. I'd just like to start by thanking everybody who's running, stepping up to serve your community as one of the best things we can do. My name is Thomas Runner. I've lived in Winooski for about five years now and I honestly can't think of a better place in Vermont to live. The Winooski that I envision is one that advances in line with the values and the wishes of its residents. On city council, I will be your voice and help make that happen by always listening to the wants and needs of the city. I'm honored to be on the ballot. Truly, I want to ensure that Winooski is the best place to live, run a business, and to enjoy your life. I've served as a member of the Safe, Healthy, Connected People Commission. On that commission, my belief in local government and the residents of this city grew. Being on the commission made me want to find other ways to better serve my community and running for city council is where I can do that. I hope to earn your vote on March 1st so I can work towards bringing affordable housing, much needed businesses, and plenty of community activities to you, the residents of Winooski. Thank you very much, Thomas. All right. David. I'm Dave Wallace. I'm running for the city council. I've become very concerned about the rising crime rate in Burlington and part of it is due to the defunding of the police and also the county prosecutor isn't taking all the cases that are coming up. That includes shootings and murders. I want to make sure that the Winooski police force is fully funded and I want to make so one of the reasons I want to run is to make sure that they don't get defunded. I would like to reduce the taxes in Winooski, but I'd have to review where all the expenses are going so I don't really want to make a statement as to what I would cut first before we reduce taxes. I was bothered by the when we gave out the right to vote to non-citizens here in Vermont. We dissent well in Winooski. It's unconstitutional and we wound up disenfranchising the people that are U.S. citizens by birth right and those that took the time to become U.S. citizens through the naturalization process. We disenfranchised those people by deluding their vote. So I'll just wrap that up, but I want to reverse that. All right. Thank you, David. And we will finish our opening statements with Irene. Oh, Irene, you have your mic muted. Thank you. Sintela probably nervous. I come from Kenya, which is a diverse community that has various communities that have resettled there for centuries. And when I moved here, it made me think about home. And I have seen the beauty and the strength that can come from having different perspectives. And when I look around, I don't see much of that diversity reflected. And I feel that I can add a voice of some of the people that have resettled in Winooski that also need to feel that they are part of residents of Winooski. And I think that if I do get elected, I will be the person, the cheerleader that is also speaking for them. Thank you very much, Irene. All right. Thank you to all the candidates for those opening statements. And we have a call around the line. So we will move right ahead to take that call. The idea is to have each candidate have an equal chance to answer the question. So hopefully the question will be stated for or stated for all of you to answer. And you will again get two minutes each to answer that question. So we will go ahead and take that call. One moment. Sure. And just let me know if you need me to take a different question in the meantime. All right. Our callers here. Perfect. I had two questions. One, what are ways that we can increase affordable housing within the city, especially for middle income and lower income Winooski residents, as well as what are ways that the city can tackle the climate crisis? All right. So there was really two questions there. You could try to answer both at the same time or focus on one or the other. The first question was, what are some ways to increase affordable housing for middle and low income Winooski residents? And the other question was about how to address climate change in Winooski. And for this question, we will start with Matt. Oh, thanks. Yeah, that's great. I get to go first. So I think affordable housing, let's tackle that one because that's really one where I think the city council can probably have the greatest impact. Clearly, climate change is something that needs to be permeated through all levels of government, but what actually can be done Winooski is probably at a lesser scale impact wise and what it can do for affordable housing for our residents, right? So I mean, I think when you look at the project that we've done with the Champlain Housing Trust over here near the O'Brien Family Center, that's super important to continue those kinds of projects. I think it's super, I really appreciate the work the zoning department or the zoning board has done already to sort of put some parameters on future development in Winooski and making sure that high density housing is part of the mix, a big part of the mix. And I also think our enforcement codes, we really need to make sure that some of the bad actors who operate in and around here do not get a free pass just to operate as bad actors. So I think there's three things the city council can really do to make sure that there's affordable housing and continue the work that's already been done. Great, thank you Matt. All right, we will move on to Aurora. Yes, these are both really great questions and I think one thing that connects them is as part of the master plan of the city, there is a goal to improve energy efficiency on new and existing buildings. So that might be something to look into if there are lower costs with utilities that could be helpful. I think a huge thing related to housing is that renters as we are a city of two thirds renters need to have more of a voice. I think looking at having a potential housing advocate, so there's someone that residents can go to and report issues that they might be having as well as know about any opportunities to have help with rent or heating. I think it would be interesting to explore the possibility of rent control. I don't know if that might work for a city of our size, but I think a place to start might be caps on security deposits because those can be a real barrier to people looking to move to Winooski and to move into an apartment building here. And I think that as Matt mentioned, looking at the code enforcement, currently there are only two and a half people who work on the city for all buildings, not just rentals, but all public buildings. So potentially looking into giving, just having more resources there. Great. Thank you, Aurora. And next, we will move on to Thomas. Thanks for your question. So I do agree that climate change, of course, is extraordinarily important. As a city, we can't make a huge impact on the state level or the national level, but it is still something that we should think about. And I think that the city should create some incentives for things like solar panels, electric cars, things that are proven to help reduce everybody's climate footprint. But as far as housing, which is definitely somewhere where the city can help, I definitely think that we need to encourage more development properties for owners. Like the one that Matt mentioned, what I hear from a lot of members of the community, those who are already renting or maybe have their first home here, they would like to buy another home. They'd like to have something that's more suitable for themselves, something that's a little bigger. And that's where I see the city can really help in bringing in developers who are interested in building good quality, affordable housing for people to buy. And then as far as the rentals, code enforcement is huge. There are a ton of rental units in the city that, in my opinion, should not exist. They need a lot of upgrades. They need updates. And that is something that the city should focus on. If rent prices are raising, then people should be living in a pristine, conditioned home. So I definitely think the city council can help on the housing issue. Great. Thank you very much, Thomas. And now David. Well, in terms of reducing the rent here, we can start with reducing the property tax. And in addition to that, we would need new zoning for more density building. And we could have row housing instead of just having one home on a single lot, we could actually have several row houses. And we need to build smaller homes, not just $450,000 big homes, we could build smaller homes so that new families can afford a smaller, more affordable home. I had a friend who lived here in Winooski and one of his landlords kept raising the rent on him every month until he had to move out. And then the residents apartment where he was living was filled with section eight. We probably need to have some kind of limit to how many section eight housing we have here in Winooski, because it seems to be that some landlords prefer to use that. And that drives up the price of rent as well. Great. Thank you, David. Sure. All right. Now we will go to Irene. Thank you. I think meeting housing needs in Chinden County is a significant challenge because the city of Winooski, as I see it, is in a position to lead the state in equitable housing policies. Many of our citizens are minimum wage owners. Most rent pricing, in my opinion, is unreasonable. And it forces our tenants to sacrifice food and other commodities to move to meet the demands of landlords who I am unfortunate to say are greedy landlords. And the city must enact rent control. Further on, I believe that the majority of properties are owned by a few landlords. So most tenants don't trust them. And there needs to be a balance to right this wrong. We need to find affordable housing against landlord unrestrained greed. Some apartments don't meet basic health standards. We don't need strict housing codes that reinforce those codes. And together with serious penalties for code violators, some of our residents of Winooski suffer a lot. They move into houses that are pretty old, houses that are rampant with the rodents. And the families that move into those houses cannot afford those houses. And they are new Americans. They don't understand what the lease means. And they're not small in numbers. You'll find a mother and father with a bunch of kids. It doesn't mean that those kids are her own. It's kids that she's forced to adopt because they are coming from a war-torn country. And when they arrive here, those are the only houses that are available and they are forced to pay for those houses. They have to find ways and means to afford them so they're all working once you're the age of 18. Some of them need to go to school. They can't. So it's really a complex issue. Thank you, Irene. All right. And we will finish this question with Chad. Yes. So our country runs good and our economy runs good on cheap gas and cheap interest rates. And affordable housing works well when there's low taxes. The most affordable housing in Vermont will be, you will find it where the taxes are low. So you can't have affordable housing and high taxes. The two just don't mix. So we really need to work on lowering the taxes so that housing becomes more affordable. And one of the ways would be, I think it was Dave said, where you make the housing more dense and not build so big so that that's another way to make it more affordable. Great. Thank you very much. All right. We will move on to our next question. So starting with Aurora this time around, the question is, do you support the items on the city ballot? Why or why not? Definitely. We don't have a whole lot of ballot items this time around. The primary ones are the school and the city budget. But in addition to those, we are looking at a bond for a new fire truck, which I am in support of. My understanding is it better meets the needs of our growing city, especially with some of these bigger buildings coming in. So we would need to make sure that people living in those are safe. So I'm in support of that bond. And the other one is looking at the Wanooski school district to enter a lease to help provide more preschool and early head start programming or at least fill the gap until the school renovations are done. And given that early education is such a huge need, I am in support of that as well. Great. Thank you very much, Aurora. And we will move on to Thomas. Yeah, I'm also in agreement with the ballot items. As part of the committee that I am on, we spoke about the fire truck, and that was something that took many, many meetings up. It's definitely something that the city needs. So I really do hope that the city will see that important need as far as the school budget for the lease. I agree without good childcare and early education. Those are two of the key things to keep a society progressing and a community growing. So I definitely support those. Again, there aren't a ton of ballot items, but I am in support of all of them. Thank you, Thomas. All right. David? I would support the fire truck, but as far as the early education, that's for paying for pre-K. Don't really think that the city should be paying for the pre-K education. So I would be opposed for that. Okay. Great. Thank you very much, David. And we will move on to Irene. Thank you. Yes, I do support. And this is in respect to Article 2, with respect to the 2023 budget. And while I haven't been in all the discussions, I believe there was a deliberate effort and careful thought given to balancing our spending. 8.7 million dollars for a community of roughly 8,000 is about 1,089 per person. And like I said, I'm not a budget expert, but when you consider that's less than about half the per capita expenses of other largest cities, it just seems reasonable. And Article 3, yes, I think the consideration of funds from resources other than property taxation is a good idea, provided there are no strings attached to the funds, and it's not conflicting the Winozki goals and the well-being of the Winozki city. Article 4, yes, I support the idea of updating public safety. This is the emergency equipment that saves lives. So fire trucks are absolutely an essential piece. And also considering the significantly time involved because those houses are starting to get higher and higher. And as I said before, I'm responding just to the valid questions. My sense is that the budget process was very deliberate and carefully done. And so it's quite reasonable given our population. Great. Thank you, Irene. And next up we have Chad. Yes, I'm in support of all the items. I think they did a great job with some of those items, like I believe it's three and five where they were able to get it done without increasing taxes. So I'm in support of all the items. Looks like Emily froze, doesn't it? Yeah. Chad, were you done? If you're done, I'll just, I think that was the last one. So I'll just jump in and say, yeah, I support all the items on the ballot. And super thankful that City Council before us seems to have put together a pretty thoughtful budget that balances the needs moving forward. Emily, she's still frozen. You're back, Emily. Okay. Can everybody hear me and see me? Yes. Yes. I am so sorry about that. Gotta love internet here in Vermont. All right. Matt, the question was about the valid items. Yeah, I answered. Yeah. Okay. While you were gone, we wrapped it up. Okay, great. So in that case, I'm just going to take a moment to remind folks that are viewing this live that we do welcome questions from you. And you can call in at 802-862-3966. And I thank everyone for bearing with me. I appreciate that. And we will move on to our next question, which will be, and we will start this question with Thomas. And the question is, the last two years have seen increasing political tensions and divisions nationwide. Do you see that having an impact on local politics in Winooski? It's another question. I don't think it's as apparent as it may be in other parts of the country. The city council, of course, is a nonpartisan board. You don't see Ds or Rs next to our names when we run. I think there's definitely differing values and opinions amongst this group of people and definitely amongst everyone of the residents of Winooski. But thankfully, we don't live in a place where you see really harsh and cruel vitriol on either side. What I will say is, no matter what my political leanings are, the reason I'm running is to serve absolutely every single person in this city. I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican or a progressive. We all live together. You're my neighbors, many of you are my friends. I'd like to know more of you and all of you. I just want to represent everyone in this city and do what is the best for the city, for the residents. Great. Thank you very much, Thomas. We will move on to David. Yeah, I don't think I've seen a lot of divisiveness here in Winooski, but it's certainly going on nationwide. If I'm elected also, I don't care if you voted for me or you didn't vote for me. I'm still obligated to serve you, and that's what I would do. I think that there has been a lot of negative discourse going on, and people need to really just kind of open up their ears and just listen to other people's opinions and not just get angry and try to cancel people when they disagree with what something they said. But I think Winooski's been pretty good about it. It's a small town, so not so much here. Did she leave again? Was anybody keeping track of who would have been next? Well, she's going random because my last name's Waltz. Hi. I'll step in for a moment. How about Aurora? Can you go next? Sure thing. I agree with a lot of both what David and Thomas had said. It is really unique here in Winooski that we are nonpartisan, and I think that really has brought us together and really made a lot of the conversations that have already happened in the City Council really positive and gotten us through some really tough issues. I also see that a huge part of continuing this is building community, and I think building community is really important. Fostering relationships across generations and cultures is part of the strategic vision for the City, and I think as City Councilors, it's really our job to help make that happen. Thank you, Aurora. Can everybody hear me again? Yes. Okay, great. Was Aurora after David? Yes. Okay, great. We'll move on to Irene then. Thank you. Well, I haven't seen any specific example in local politics in Winooski, but maybe I can speculate that maybe it has. There's a division when you look at tensions and divisions worldwide. I think it has permeated our country's representation. It just seems like idealism is used to grab power and it's driving the nation's politics instead of collaboration for the common good. Well, I can say, but that's not me. I'm not seeking power and I'm just seeking to live in a thriving, beautiful community that listens to its citizens. Sure, I have my own beliefs, but at the end of the day, it's my goal to progress and refine to the end of the common good of Winooski residents and to that end. The best way for me to do that is to just listen to what people are saying and learn and get to know them. Great. Thank you very much, Irene, and we will head over to Chad. I really don't see it here. I think our community doesn't vote by party. I think it always seems to vote by the best candidate. It's kind of what I like. No matter what my opinion is, if I was elected, my job is to listen to the community and vote the way they want to vote and just work hard to get that done. Great. Thank you, Chad. We will finish this question with Matt. No, I don't see the divisiveness. I think one of the great things about local government, I think Thomas said this, is you don't have to put an R or D or an I or P or anything next to your name. You can just fill out your form and be involved. I think that's what actually gets a lot of work done. We don't have to look too far at other city councils who wrap themselves around the axle with issues that maybe are of more political discourse. I really like the way that Winooski, and frankly, most places in Vermont have avoided the sort of national plague of divisiveness that's hit us. Great. Thank you very much to everyone for answering that question. And we will move on to the next one. And this time around, we are going to start with David. And the question is, what do you think is most important for the city council to support in terms of Winooski's economic development future? We got to be smart on the zoning. I could see a lot of development going on. And going in the direction of low rise buildings on the main street, that seems to be looking pretty good. And I would certainly like to make Winooski a better alternative to say to Burlington downtown. I think we have a lot of potential here. And I'd like to see lots of small businesses open on our busy roads. Just make this city more of a, it's a pretty good walking city, you know, and keep working on that. We could add some more sidewalks and even some more bike lanes. I want to make it a much more pedestrian type of city. I think we have a lot of potential for a very nice place to live. Great. Thank you very much, David. And Irene. Thank you. I believe that attracting new businesses and retention of our existing businesses is a very important objective. And I would also like to see us capitalized on our labor market. When I say that, for example, there are many new Americans who could be more productive if provided new employment opportunities, especially those that permit wage growth. I also believe in keeping a focus on our downtown and main street corridors as an attraction for visitors. For example, the restaurants, the music, and arts. And I say that because I'm an artist, of course. And just like in our community's diversity in businesses, it makes us stronger. Great. Thank you, Irene. And next up we have Chad. Yes. As our vision is coming together and it's coming together well, it looks really good. Just have the correct process in place so that we can deal with the extra traffic, the parking situation. I would try to take a look at, in a couple of years, when our vision is there, that we also have the other processes in place to be able to handle the more people that are coming through here. If it be the police force needs to be larger or just make sure that we do things in the correct order. Great. Thank you very much, Chad. And next we have Matt. I think we're kind of at an unprecedented time in Manuski history to drive economic growth. We've got three things that are going on that are all sort of thread to one. We have the ability to hire a city manager. And that's really going to be the most important thing the city council has to do is hire a forward-looking city manager who takes things like the economic development very seriously and has some fresh ideas too. In two years, I think we will pay off the downtown TIF money and then we will have extra money heading into the budget. And so that gives us a little more freedom and maybe we can spur economic activity there. And three is the American Recovery Act and the money that's coming in those. So when you put all three of those things together, it's a super exciting time for whichever two of you get on the city council. Great. Thank you very much, Matt. And we will finish this question off with Aurora. Well, no, excuse me. I am in the wrong, looking at my wrong notes here. I think David. I think I already answered that. Oh my gosh. Okay, let's go with Aurora. I think it's me and then Thomas. Yes, you're right. Okay. I've got a huge sheet with like a million names on it trying to keep track of everybody's order. So thank you, Aurora. I think Matt has hit on some really some really big things with the ARPA and the TIF money. I know that we've already been looking into as a city if there's a way that we can give some of that ARPA money into our local small businesses and have an application process. And I'd really hope to see that process being one that prioritizes businesses owned by LGBTQ folks, BIPOC, as well as businesses that are really employing Winooski residents as well. So we kind of have the money coming to our residents as well as to the businesses. I think what is also important is thinking about kind of going back to the master plan. We have a lot of things listed out in there. One of them kind of going off of something Irene mentioned is there is a plan to hopefully have an arch slash cultural district, which I think would be really wonderful in both bringing in tourism and really celebrating and building community that is here as well. And I think it's something to keep in mind that essentially at least by some most recent statistics about half of Winooski's population falls between 20 and 44 years old. So we are a rather young city, especially in an aging state. So how can we really support the workers that are going to be really vitalizing not just Winooski, but the communities surrounding it? Thank you very much, Aurora. And Thomas, we will wrap up with you. Great. I can't underscore enough the importance of small business. I've been working with small businesses for over 10 years now. Two of my endorsements that I've received on Front Porch Forum have been from local Winooski small businesses. The small business really is an anchor of a community. Every dollar that comes into a small business creates more growth and more wealth in the community than any national chain could ever do. As far as those ARPA funds, I'm glad that people are talking about them. There's currently a $100,000 grant that's available to small businesses. If I'm elected to the city council, one of the things I would like to do is increase that grant and also increase the scope. I don't think it should just be used for existing businesses, but also for people who are trying to get a great business started. I think that money should be accessible to them. When I think of the future of Winooski, I see a place where it's kind of a one-stop-shop. If you live here, you can walk downtown, get everything that you need. You don't even need to get in your car and drive to Burlington or Williston. With that vision, of course, we would need increased parking, increased services. Those are all things that I would love to work on the city council towards. Thank you very much, Thomas. All right. I would just like to remind folks that you can call in. The number to call is 802-862-3966, and we welcome your questions. Moving on, we will start this question off with Irene. Irene, can you see, we have all learned a lot from COVID. What have you learned over this past year that you will bring to bear as a city councilor to serve your constituents? Thank you, Emily. I think a lot was exposed as COVID hit about the disparities that were already in place and what was accessible to all the community. You might recall that other onset government officials had made assumptions about the people it was serving in this area. For example, when COVID was rampaging through the communities, the health department provided drive-through testing at the Essex fairgrounds. And this decision was giving easy access to testing for the privileged class as the people with cars, but not the wage owners struggling to pay exorbitant rents. So what happened? We had our first COVID break out in Winooski, amongst the vulnerable population that went undetected because why they couldn't test? Was that preventable? Yes. It's officials just assumed that everyone worth testing owned cars. So I will bring, if I'm elected, an understanding of the realities of our community to the council, enabling more successful implementing, again, read everything I wrote down, enabling more successful implementation of the city goals and objectives. Thank you very much, Irene. All right. We will move on to Chad. We've learned a lot and I think it's something that we just need to do week by week, read the data, see which way it's heading. Sometimes the data shows that we have to do a mask mandate. Sometimes it shows that we're getting out of it. The numbers are down. I think a big help is the free testing. I know the school gives out a lot of free test samples, or if the O'Brien Center could help with that so that people can feel confident, just do a quick test and neither stay home or get out in the community. But that seems to be working well. The numbers seem to be dropping. Great. Thank you, Chad. And next up is Matt. I think a few things we learned in COVID on the positive side is that community is really important and being connected is really important. And I think in the last two years that has been hammer home more than in the last hundred. That's my dog, by the way. I also think that we come to recognizing forms of small businesses in a community and what they can do when they put their mind behind helping those who need it. One thing that we need to address both as a community and as a state and nationally is everybody's access to technology. My wife's a school teacher and there's no equitable approach to technology. And I think as a community that's something we could definitely focus on, make sure that broadband is available to all because these types of things, these Zoom meetings are going to be there in the future. But I think resiliency and community are what we really learned held up through COVID. Thank you, Matt. And we will move on to Aurora. Thank you. Yeah, I think kind of going off of what Irene mentioned about the way that it has really revealed some of the inequalities that were already here. And this can give us guidelines for how to support people in the future. I think one thing too is we have this balance of some things being online has opened up great accessibility for some people who haven't been able to access things, but it's also cut some people out. So how do we best communicate with and engage in community? So thinking a lot about, I think it would be really wonderful for the city to have an accessibility committee or commission. So really looking at all these different issues to make sure everything from our sidewalks are accessible to our committee and commission meetings. I think now that we have knowledge of some of the needs in the city, such as additional childcare and the ways that being able to provide with some of these ARPA and these federal funds free summer programming has seen a spike in those programs being used. This is wonderful data to have and it would be great to look further into how we can continue that if even small fees are a barrier to people that need to access or want to access these services, how can we find different ways to make sure we're serving everyone in the community? Thank you very much, Aurora. And we will finish this question with Thomas. Oh, no, sorry. We'll go to Thomas and then David. Oh boy. I think there are three really crucial things that we learned from COVID. Listening, compassion and support. You never know what anybody is going through. I think one thing that I really learned and I experienced, somebody who lives on your street who you think they've got two cars, everything looks good. They might be struggling extremely and they're just too ashamed to share that with people. So I think creating programs similar to what Aurora said, where anybody can apply to get their kids into soccer camp and they'll get that assistance if they need it. There's no extenuating huge amount of forms that they have to fill out, keeping those programs going through meetings that I've had on the commission that I serve on. I know that that's something the city wants to continue pushing forward. As far as listening, just listening to what the community is feeling, what they need, and in turn communicating correctly, there was definitely a difficulty for a lot of people to get to testing sites. And then the National Guard was able to open up a testing site right here in Wenuski that people would be able to walk to. That did take a little long to get up and running. And I feel like if the city council had had these new COVID skills of listening and really understanding what's happening, that probably would have started getting rolling a little faster. COVID has been horrible, but it has taught all of us an amazing way to support our communities. And I think that that doesn't start with city council, but city council has to be a huge part of that support. Thank you very much, Thomas. And now we will finish this question with David. Yeah, I think nationally, I believe the way COVID has been dealt with has been catastrophic for this country. We're now at $30 trillion in debt. This is going to have inflation. Our kids are never going to be able to pay off this debt. We really screwed this one up. And it continues to be a problem. And one of the things I want to do if elected is try to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. I'm going to eliminate mask mandates. And there's even a business here in Wenuski that in order to come in, they ask for a proof of vaccination. I would certainly want to put an end to that. That is a violation of someone's privacy. That is a HIPAA violation to be asking for someone's medical information. Any employee who lives in the Wenuski limits, at least if I'm elected, will not be mandated to be vaccinated and will not be required to wear a mask at work. That should be an option, not mandatory. So I think we've really given up a lot of our freedoms over something that would pass over time. We didn't need to shut down the country. We didn't need to have trillions of dollars in stimulation. It's a bad flu. A lot of people died. But we can't just sacrifice decades into the future when you do something like this. We really handled this poorly. And my job would be to just try to get things going back to normal as quickly as possible. All right. Let's see. Thank you, David. And we do have another caller on the line. So we will move on to that. Thank you to all the candidates for answering that question there. And we are going to, we will take that call now. All right. Just one moment. All right, Connor, you're on air. Oh, great. Thanks so much. I was just curious about the fact that public service requires that you work not only, you know, only bring your own perspective, but also that you approach the work with humility and curiosity. And I'm wondering if candidates could discuss a little bit about how each of you go about learning new things, how you conduct your diligence, and how you wrap your mind around complex policy or civic ideas. Thanks. Was everybody able to hear that question? Okay. All right. Chad, we will start with you. If I'm not familiar with a certain topic, I do my research on it. And I look at numerous venues on that certain item. I enjoy learning. And I try to be on the top of my game on any subject. So I keep an open mind and I listen to numerous views on it. And that's how I would approach an item that's brought to the table that I'm not familiar with. Thank you very much. And Matt. A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was trained as a classic newspaper reporter. And the ability to sort of come in as a media member has sort of permeated my thinking in life, that you sort of listen to both sides, you seek out both sides. Are you able to sort of formulate that in a nonbiased way and move forward with proving a point? So it's just been sort of a lifetime, I guess, of listening to people's stories and moving forward from that. And I think the other thing is experience, you know, just the more policies you write, the more budgets you pass, the more times you say yes or you say no. Having that experience is super helpful in sort of formulating your thoughts and maybe helping folks channel their thoughts as well to something that's productive for everybody. Thank you very much, Matt. And we will move on to Aurora. Thank you so much for the question. It's a really good one. I think one of the big things would be in this particular context as a city councilor would be talking to city staff. I've had some really wonderful conversations already with the amazing staff that work at work for our city. So they are often very knowledgeable about things going on in our community and exactly how policies that already exist are being administered. So talking with them would be a really big starting place. There's of course looking into all the records and minutes that already exist from previous commissions and committees or going to visit those commissions and committees directly if something falls under their purview. Another big thing would be listening to community members asking community members. I think a big thing that really needs to happen is figuring out how both city staff and city counselors can go to where people are. I think that has been an issue that's come up a lot. So how do we go to the different communities within our city and hear what is going on for them? That's really the only way that you're going to be able to truly understand. I think there's often going a little bit of what Matt said. I think there's often more than two sides. So really making sure to understand all the different complex issues, what's already happened, what could be happening, and just kind of getting that all around view. Thank you very much. Alright, Thomas. Thanks for the question, Connor. You mentioned humility and that's definitely a part of what plays into my learning experience. I never like to presume that I know all the facts or even that I come close to knowing everything. So listening to people who know more than me is something that I cherish in my learning experience. Throughout my educational career, I've made sure to always be keeping up on the readings, reading what I can to understand the true issue, and as well as reading different policy beliefs and points. People who are on the far left and the far right may never disagree in something. However, they each come from a place of passion and a place of concern. So trying to understand all of the sides of an issue is something that I've always tried to do. And I agree with, you know, the people who have already spoken that seeking out those people, for example, the people who work in city council, talking with residents, seeing what they actually care about, something that I might think is a huge issue. The residents of Wynuski may not. And I definitely will move forward with always trying to listen and consult with those around me and those who are really knowledgeable on the issues. Thank you very much, Thomas. And we will move on to David. Well, whenever I have a new job or a new task, I ask the experienced people around me on how to do it. And I also look, review books, internet, YouTube, find out where the information is located. I would also look to former counselors if I was elected to the council for guidance in terms of how to deal with individual issues that come up that I don't understand. Sure. Great. Thank you, David. And we will finish up with Irene. Thank you. I think through this pandemic, all of us have lunch to adapt. And sometimes it might be difficult because the Learning Club sometimes can be uncomfortable. But I can say personally, as part of my job as a reach out outreach caseworker, I'm always within the community's learning. I know that I sometimes have to be quiet and listen to people, even though I sometimes feel like I know all the answers. I've learned how to be humble and to listen carefully because presumptions always, I find myself in trouble because I made a presumption because, for instance, I'm an African. Who am I serving? Another African. And so trying to think that these other African thinks the same way I do has been a very big mistake. So I learned to be quiet and to listen to thinking patterns and perceptions and learn to close the gap between the community and other social providers. And so for me, thinking is key and learning to have empathy and to really lean into how they're feeling, getting into their shoes and understand how they're feeling helps me be a more effective caseworker. So that set of skill is what I will be bringing into this work if I am selected. Thank you very much, Irene. And thank you to all the candidates, we and as well as the caller, we actually have another caller from the community who wishes to remain anonymous. So my producer is going to come on the line and ask the question for them. And we are going to be starting with Matt for this question. So. All right. So the question is, if you were not, and this is for each candidate, if you were not running, which of the other candidates would you vote for and why? All right. Thank you, Kate. And let's start with that. I would vote for two of the candidates that are here after I listened to the rest of this broadcast. Thank you, Matt. All right. Aurora. All right. Quite the question. Yeah, I think just from what I've known of talking with both Thomas and Irene, that they would both really serve both what I would like to see on the city council, but also really serve the people in our community. I think they both are really interested in getting to know and listening to the other folks around. And that's really what I want to do. So I really appreciate it seeing it in others. Thank you, Aurora. And Thomas. It's quite the question. But it's a good question nonetheless. I've had some conversations with a few of the people who are running, and I've really appreciated those. Aurora, I think that you would definitely get my vote if I wasn't running. We've seen each other an event or two at this point. So I definitely know that we feel very similar to the issues. And Irene, I think that what you're saying tonight is really great as well. But I hate to answer this question. Chad and David, you definitely bring up some really important issues to this conversation. But I guess at the end of the day, that probably is how I would vote. Although the opinion could change by the end of this, I think we still got some time ahead of us. Thank you very much, Thomas. And David. I guess, is it have to be two candidates, or I can just say which one candidate? I thought Chad was would be my choice if I was going to vote for someone, myself, obviously. All right. Thank you, David. And Irene. I was squirming deep into my seat and hope you would not call up my name. Oh, man. I love everyone here. And I love what everyone is saying. These are the same things I believe in. So I'm just going to rip off the bandage and just say Thomas Brenner, you're really speaking to my heart every time you open your mouth, you say. And then I love the ease with which you speak. All the questions. And so Thomas and Emily. Sorry, I didn't mean to say Emily. I meant to say Aurora. Thank you, Irene. All right. And we will finish up this question with Chad. Thank you. This group of people is great. And this is what I was talking about earlier where if we could have a group of people like this that sit down in brainstorm, I'm sure we could come up with some great ideas. If I had to narrow it down to two, it would be probably David and Matt. Awesome. Thank you very much, Chad. And we've had a lot of community activity this forum, which is very exciting. We've got another caller on the line. So we are going to go ahead and just keep it going and take another call. All right. Eric, are you ready to ask your question? I am. All right, go ahead. Hi, all first. Thank you very much for your interest in running to be a part of our local city council. I really appreciate that. I am wondering if, A, you support the city's recent implementation of all residents or non-citizen voting in municipal elections? And B, if you have any ideas or thoughts on how to make our local democracy more accessible to and inclusive of people whose identities have not been simply centered in local leadership. Thanks. All right. All right. So again, we've got two questions there. Feel free to answer them to the best of your ability. The first was, do you support all resident voting in municipal elections? And the second was how to make local democracy more accessible to groups of people who haven't typically been centered in the past. So for this question, we are going to go ahead and start with Aurora. This is a really wonderful question. Thank you so much for asking it. I am definitely in support of all resident voting. I'm really, really honored to be a part of the first election where we have it. And I've been thinking a lot with it, had been thinking a lot of how do we make our democracy more accessible? Because I think there is really this barrier of people not knowing where they're able to get the information, say, on the budget, but also what that implication may mean for their taxes. So thinking about how do we get that information out there? And I think it is this balance of going to where people are and also working on community. I think another huge thing is we have volunteer run commissions and committees. This is really amazing. And there's a lot of great community support happening there. However, being volunteer, it does kind of lend itself to only people a certain amount of privilege are actually able to access them. So thinking about a way of implementing a stipend for people to be able to be a part of that, they could put it towards childcare or put it towards covering a shift at a job so they can be a part of that committee. I think that's really important. We need to figure out how to make things accessible. And in a lot of ways that's making it so people can make it important in their own lives and also understand how these things affect them. Great. Thank you very much, Aurora. And next we will go to Thomas. Yeah. So I am in support of all resident voting. And I'd like to tell you why for a brief period of my life when I was a teenager, we lived abroad actually. And the place where we lived implemented all resident voting and my mother was able to vote. And being able to vote, she became such a larger and an integrated part in her community. She really had a reason to care about what was going on when she was able to participate in that community's elections. I know that there are many views on it. But what I was able to see was a person who did not have any interest in what was going on politically and all of a sudden cared about the community showed up to public meetings and wanted to find out more. I'm really excited for this much larger swath of residents to be able to vote. It will be really interesting to see what opinions they have. And as far as our democracy and how to get more people involved, I definitely think that leadership starts at the top. So having a City Council, having the leaders of committees that represent everybody in the community is crucial. I know that that is one of the things that Mayor Lott is striving towards. And I would definitely support that if I was elected to City Council. And I think my election to City Council would bring a little diversity and enable some people in the community to be able to see themselves in a public role. But also making sure it is more accessible. A lot of people aren't able to just go onto the City's website and read the ballot and even understand what that means. Let alone talking about language barriers, political jargon can be very confusing for people. So I think that you do have to get out into the community, whether it be hosting multiple events, both in person and on Zoom, knocking on doors and explaining what's in the ballot, what do all of these words mean, what are these numbers that people are looking at. I know even for people who speak English that can be really confusing. So making it accessible in that way is also extraordinarily important. Thank you very much, Thomas. Next, we will move on to David. As I stated before, I am opposed to all resident voting as it delutes the votes of US citizens. My mom, she immigrated here from Panama and she naturalized very late in her life, but it was a big deal, was a great honor. And she had her own reasons for holding back. But I mean, she never thought that she had to participate in our democracy when she wasn't a citizen. And it really just, it really, it offends me as an American and to know what's involved in the naturalization process. You take civics classes, you have to learn how our constitution works. Then you take a test. And if you don't pass the test, you can't become a citizen. It's a big deal. And then you really appreciate our democracy. And we just deluded it by just giving it away and just saying, hey, you just show up here in Winooski and start voting. And it affects us negatively. And I understand we need to how to make their own democracy more accessible. We have signs up on election day. If you want to make it easier, election day should be in November instead of we're having an off date. I think that does confuse a lot of people. It should be when it traditionally is held, is when the election should be held. It really is the responsibility of the individual to get involved, to get involved in the process. And the politicians who get elected and those who run for office can go out and reach out to the people. That's how that works. Thank you very much, David. And next, we will move on to Irene. Thank you. I love what David just said because I too went through the same process. I came here. I had to learn a bunch of things that I can't tell you that I remember any of now because it was so long ago, but I had to learn the civics and the history and luckily I could speak English because we are a British colony. So we learned English growing up. But I have to now stop and reflect upon the new Americans that are English learners that have to overcome the language barrier. Meanwhile, they are paying taxes and just like any Winooski resident and so these local elections are happening and they are so, so, so excited to be have that access to be able to have a voice finally. And so what I find is going to be really crucial is education. That I know that they are still in the process of learning how to fully assimilate and become US citizens. That takes a long time. But it takes them that much longer because when they come to the states, they hit the ground running and they thrown into working environments which doesn't give them the ability to learn English in a faster pace like their children who are immersed in schools and they learn faster. So education is the key to ensuring that all people have access to a promising future and education could serve as an equalizer of opportunity, especially to these needy families and English language learners who are struggling so hard to assimilate into a culture that is not something that is familiar. So yes, yes, and yes, I'm very excited about it as they are. But there's a lot of things that they need to overcome before they can fully understand how the government runs, etc. It's not to say, I know there's a lot of assumptions that are stereotype that if you don't speak English that you are not educated. These are people who are educated. It's just that their lives were disrupted by war and they speak more languages that we can't let's face it. But they need as much a chance as any other person who is now living in America, who's legally living in America. Thank you Irene. Thank you. And next up we have Chad. Yes, so I sort of have mixed feelings on the issue. I think it's great when everybody in the community wants to be part of the voting process. But at the same time, I think it can be dangerous. Not everyone in the world has good intentions for us. And I really like our community so kind of oppose non-citizens voting. I think the people that went through the process might feel cheated for their hard work getting to that point. I think it's important and I like how this year on the ballot it's in numerous languages. So I think we're moving in the right direction with making it easier. But I currently oppose it. Thank you Chad. And we will finish this question with Matt. 100% support all resident voting. I think it's it's always frustrating when people who are paying taxes here and living here have no voice. Full stop 100% support it. To whom much is given though much is expected. And local government is messy in visiting and unapproachable to people who've lived here for hundreds of years. And so this is a real opportunity. And I've long lamented the fact that local government seems to rely on a small core of people stepping up. And it's usually the same faces year after year. This is a surprise and a pleasant surprise to see seven folks raise their hands here. But we really need not just Winooski but this state really needs to figure out a way to explain what local government is and how people can be involved and why it's important to be involved. I think things like local government workshops, meeting people where they meet in their cultural settings, we need to expand our discussion about what local government can be. And maybe that starts with twinning with somebody in the Winooski school system who can walk all students through what local government is. Local government in Vermont is really hard to put your head around. And you want to build a porch on your back deck and all of a sudden somebody's knocking on your door because you didn't cross a T or dot an I and you cannot for the life of you figure out who you're supposed to talk to. Local government does a really bad PR job and it needs to get better. In this community we have the opportunity to be really diverse in our outreach and maybe rethink how we put an on ramp to local government. Great. Thank you very much for that Matt and thank you for everyone for answering that. And we actually do have another caller so we will continue hearing from the community and we'll take that call now. All right. Michelle, are you ready to ask your question? Yes, Sam. All right, go ahead. Hi. Thank you so much for all speaking tonight. My question is, do you support the Black Lives Matter movement? And what would you do to improve the safety of Black, Brown and disabled residents of Winooski? All right. Thank you very much for that caller. So again, there was two questions here. The first was, do you support the Black Lives Matter movement? And the second was, how do you think that we can improve? I believe it was the safety of Black, Brown and disabled Winooski residents. And for this, we will start with Thomas. Michelle, thank you for your question. Yes, I do support the Black Lives Matter movement. We've seen a lot of things in our nation over the past couple of years. The brawl of this about, again, thankfully, we haven't seen that in Winooski. I've worked alongside the Chief of Police on my commission and I have to say that our police force here is doing amazing things in terms of outreach, in terms of trying to be approachable, in terms of hiring diverse candidates. They have a few that they're training right now. I think that what I would encourage the police force to do is to really to continue that outreach in terms of keeping people safe. Having a police force that is in the community and the BIPOC community's trust is extraordinarily important, I believe, in the Black Lives Matter movement. Winooski does a great job at that. That's one of the wonderful reasons why I love living in this city. I've had experiences. I've lived in places where there are times where, as a Black man, I haven't felt safe. There are many, many things that I could talk about. I'm a Black man who dresses the way that people think that people should dress. So many times I don't experience the things that other people of my community do experience, and sometimes I get overlooked. However, the movement itself is extremely valid, and I think it's very hard to understand where a lot of these people are coming from unless you yourself have had those experiences, which is something that, unless you are a member of the BIPOC community, a member of somebody that Black Lives Matter supports, you will truly never understand. There's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean that you're wrong for not understanding. It doesn't mean that your voice doesn't matter, but what I hope is that just as Black Lives Matter and people like myself would like to hear from you, that you listen to us and really understand what they stand for. Many times you see in the news comments that are extraordinarily outlandish about what Black Lives Matter is trying to do, and when you look at the people who work in Black Lives Matter in our city, what they're trying to do is just make a community where everybody feels respected, everybody feels like this is their home, and everybody feels safe, and I'm really, really happy that we do have a safe community in Winooski and that we do have a respectful and a workable police force, so thank you. Thank you very much, Thomas, and next up we have David. I do not support the Black Lives Movement. I think it's kind of a, it's a grifter movement, and they're behind the defund the police movement. They're anti-prosecution, anti-bail, and we really need to prosecute criminals. We've been, we're having a major crime wave going on in this country, and while Black Lives Matter is not the sole cause of this, they demonstrated a great deal of sympathy to the chaos that we're seeing here. In 2020 we saw riots all over the country. It was sickening to see that, and we saw prosecutors just turning the other cheek. It was going on even in Burlington where I talked to police officers who were working there, and they were being spit on by these demonstrators every day, and sickening. How we can improve the safety of Black, brown, and disabled people in Winooski is we enforce the law. We have the police arrest criminals and prosecute them. It's a two-step process. I mean, we do have a prosecutor here in Chittin County who who isn't really doing her job. I believe she may have been funded by George Soros. I don't know that for a fact, but she isn't doing her job, and so we need the police and the prosecution to work together to get criminals off the street, and I think that's about it. Thank you, David. All right, and next we have Irene. Thank you. I support the idea of discussing lives of Black people, but it has lately looked like it has become a political divisive issue, so I will not dwell heavily on that. I also support the talking about the people with disabilities accessing all opportunities or having access to all opportunities, and as you know me, I love sparking and addressing racial justice for any group of people that somehow are sidelined or don't have opportunities for their voices being heard. So as long as the discussions are made or if we find ways to create pathways for equitable services for all people, all people, without getting into the politics of it, then yes, for sure, I support that. Great. Thank you, Irene. And next up we have Chad. Yes, I'm not in for support. I like the concept and the idea. I like that it gets the word out, but the particular group seems to bring violence with it and the defending of the police. What I like about Winooski is we all feel safe in the street, and we have a lot of programs in place, like the community outreach program, so I think we're doing a good job addressing it. Thank you, John. And next up we have Matt. I do support the Black Lives Matter movement. The second question is much more complex and one that I don't have an answer to. I think it starts with being an involved community member and planning those seeds in the community of trust and cooperation. There is no easy answer. If there was one, obviously somebody would have gotten it by now, but I do think it's important to keep those kind of questions in mind whenever we move forward on any initiative. How does this help or hurt any member of our community, but it particularly puts some emphasis on maybe some of the parts of our community who historically have been underrepresented or maybe not having a voice at the table as much as they should have. So there is no easy answer on how we built. I do know that identifying the problem is the first step, and then thinking about that holistically as we move forward is maybe the second step, but specifics, I don't have any. Thank you, Matt. And we will finish up this question with Aurora. Thank you. Thank you for this question. Yes, I am support in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. And thinking into the second part of that question, there's so many different layers to making our city feel like a safe and welcoming place. I think one thing that the city is currently working on is an equity audit, and this will give us a lot of information on where there are currently gaps. This is really looking at how the city administrates things. So how can we take that equity audit and put it towards making our city safer, making our democratic process more accessible? Because I do think those things go hand in hand. If you feel like you have a voice, you feel like you're able to make a difference. I think as well with that equity audit, we have this new equity director position and really making sure that this person, Yasmin Gordon, who's doing some really amazing work, has that support and continues to have that support. So the city will know how best to serve its residents, and that also goes into outreach. I think making sure the city and the school are in partnership with each other in a lot of these things, because the school is a huge access point for a lot of people in our community who might not be able to access or don't feel like they can access City Hall. And currently, the O'Brien Center is kind of in the state where people aren't using it and aren't able to access with it when it was a huge community hub and a huge place to get access and support and a safe place for people to be. So making sure that we're able to kind of bring that back. And thinking about other things like, say, the library, which often is a place, okay. All right. Thank you very much, Aurora. And I believe we're coming up on the end here, but we should have enough time for one more question to wrap everything up with. And then you'll each have a chance to do a very brief closing comment before we end for the night. So starting with David, the question is, what do you see as the biggest challenges facing the community? And how would you use your seat on the City Council to address these issues? And sort of as a follow-up, what is your vision for the future of Winooski? The biggest challenge facing our community is that we're developing. It seems to be, we're developing rapidly. We need to get a handle on it and make sure it's done correctly. And my vision for Winooski is for it to be a very, to maintain its charm and that would keeping it as a walking city. It is one now. And I just want to keep making it pedestrian friendly and bicycle friendly. Even if we could get some type of trolley in the town, it would just be just make it a really quaint place to live and make it a better alternative to Burlington. I think that we can be a really nice place to live. Thank you, David. And next we have Irene. Thank you, Emily. I see the biggest challenge is being the successful assimilation and integration of BIPOC community into Winooski in a way that benefits the entire community. My vision is for Winooski to be an example of a diverse economically thriving community for Vermont and the nation. I also believe that I can encourage alternatives and provide access to a wider range of information and perspective of some of our community members that are non-English speakers. And I also believe that having a thriving community that has access to resource and business opportunities while making them feel comfortable in public spaces. And that will mean that they can walk into a restaurant and feel that it's okay. They can go to a park and feel that their kids can play with other kids and that without feeling uncomfortable. I also hope for having affordable housing for all its residents and allowing opportunities for people to be able to connect and live in a healthy, thriving community. Great. Thank you, Irene. And we will move on to Chad. Yes. I like Winooski the way it is. And as it grows, I kind of want it to stay this way. I don't want it to turn into Burlington where the housing got out of control and they defunded the police and they limit a lot of the things you can do. I kind of would like Winooski to grow and when we build something or anything we put in place, just make sure we look at the pros and cons so that people don't have to spend all their money on housing. They actually could have some money left over and then spend it out in the community and enjoy themselves. So on the board, I would just always say, yeah, this sounds great. This is going to work great. But I would really try to always look at the pros and the cons to make sure that in the long term it's going to work to our advantage. Great. Thank you very much. And next we will talk to Matt. I think the biggest challenge in Winooski is also its biggest opportunity. And is that I know just about every place in Vermont likes to think that it's unique, but Winooski is as unique as any place in Vermont. And with that, there are some challenges, but there are also a lot of opportunity. And I think when you look at things like affordable housing, when you look at workforce development, when you look at education taxes, those things are not unique. Those are issues that everybody in Vermont also has to deal with. But Winooski, the ability to be diverse, the ability to have this small city that David talks about, that's walkable, being close to Burlington, but not being Burlington and maintaining our own identity. That's the challenge that Winooski has. And we are so poised to sort of hit this out of the park. I think people can feel it. It's palpable. Great. Thank you very much, Matt. And next we have Aurora. I think one of our biggest challenges is something that's come up several times during this forum already. And that's really thinking about how to have both as city officials, elected, appointed and staff really reflect our community. And the big way to do that would be teaching people. We talked about having people educated, but in particular, how does our city work? How does our municipal government work? I think another really exciting thing about all resident voting is also that all residents can run for office. And that's a really exciting opportunity there too. So are there ways that we can reach out to the community and really mentor people and make sure that they know how to run and how to access this government that is making a lot of decisions for them. And it has a huge impact on their lives. There's also just making sure these communities don't feel isolated. And I think that with the pandemic, this has only heightened it. So it's really kind of building and rebuilding the communities that exist within Winooski and making sure that it's safe, healthy and connected and are able to access the resources that they need. Great. Thank you, Aurora. And we will finish up this question with Thomas. I think the biggest challenge and the one that I've heard about when speaking with residents is really housing. I've spoken about a decent amount tonight, so I won't elaborate too much about all of the problems. But I really do think this is a place where City Council can really help with some innovative strategies. I really think the City Council can create projects and grants and whatnot that will really bring down housing costs and help to have new builds that are exactly what the city needs. As far as my vision, I touched on this a little bit earlier, but I really want Winooski to be a place where new businesses thrive, where residents are able to come, grow, grow their children, stay here, retire here, and really find no reason to ever have to leave. In doing that, I do think that the values of all of the residents need to be respected, but at the same time, growth is good and it can be done in a way that really benefits everybody. We can still have a really cute and walkable city, but that has plenty of opportunities for jobs and small businesses alike. Thank you very much, Thomas. And thank you to everyone for answering that question. We are coming up on the end here, so I want to make sure that we have enough time for folks to have closing statements. I think that we will move on to that. For closing statements, try to keep it around a minute or so, and then we'll wrap up and we will start with Irene. Thank you, Emily. I know it has been an exciting discussion, and I also understand that these are trying times for all of us, and we are still going through a pandemic, and some of us have lost immensely. And I just wanted to remind everyone that we are all in this together. Let us remember the little things that we can celebrate. As I said before, I'm really proud to be a part of this conversation. We are all rooting for Winozki. We know that Winozki has come far by the efforts of visionaries like Jessica Baker, who worked tirelessly to make presentations to revitalize Winozki town. So as we strive to make it thrive, let us remember all the communities that live in it. They need to be represented well. Let us make them feel at home. Let us make Winozki a beautiful thriving city. Thank you. Thank you, Irene. And Chad, your closing statement. My community has been great, and I just want to give back. I'm here to listen to the people and vote the way they would like. I like being able to take my kid to the park and feel safe about it. And I like that we have that pool now. And I like the way that things are. And excuse me. And I'm just hoping they can stay that way without sometimes, with large amount of growth, there comes problems. So I just want to, I'd like to be part of overseeing and that we do things in the correct order and have the correct processes. In place to accommodate the growth. Great. Thank you very much, Chad. And next, we will move on to Matt's closing statement. First, thank you, Emily. Also, thank you to the other five here tonight. It was great to listen to you and to get some perspective. And I do think that this is an exciting time for Winozki. And I look forward to seeing where it goes from here. And looking at the people who are on this panel, I know come the day after town meeting day, the city will be in good hands. Thank you very much, Matt. And now Aurora's closing statement. Thank you all so much. And thank you, CCTV and the calling and questions as well. Really appreciated it. I really want to run a campaign, as I think I said at the beginning, based on listening. And I know that there are some really big issues that I think are coming up and have come up multiple times in this discussion tonight. I think renters rights and affordable housing, number one, supporting diversity and equity, inclusion and justice in all the ways that make sure our community is safe and welcoming. And thinking about as well, not quite as exciting, but accessible municipal infrastructure. So making sure that we do have those parks and that our library is funded and that our sidewalks are accessible. So these are just a couple, just three big things that I'd love to help represent and hear people's opinions on should I be elected. And I'm also open to if anyone has any questions, feel free to email me. That's Aurora heard VT at gmail.com. I'd love to talk more. Great. Thank you very much, Aurora. And now we have Thomas. I'd like to start by thanking town meeting TV for getting us all together and all of the organization that was put forward. Emily, thank you for moderating. What I'd really like to say is if you're looking for somebody who's willing to fight for what you believe in to fight for Winooski and to fight for every single resident here and pick somebody who is going to listen with proven leadership experience in the past, a vote for me is a vote that you should deliver on March 1. A vote for me is really a vote for Winooski for what it stands for and for where it's going. And I thank you for calling in today. Thank you for watching and excited to see you all on March 1. And if you are looking to get in contact with me, it's Thomas for Winooski at gmail.com. Thank you. Thank you very much, Thomas. And we will wrap up our closing statements tonight with David. Well, I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to speak and it was great to meet everybody who was running for office. I want to keep Winooski growing and working. And my future vision for Winooski would include mixed sized home constructions, both small and regular sized homes and condos of multiple sizes. And we need apartment construction. And in order to make apartments affordable, we'll have to have different size apartments. But lowering property taxes can probably do a lot to reduce the rent for renters who live here. And if we keep the city growing, we can lower the property taxes because we can charge fees with new construction and that brings more revenue into the city. And that's how we can lower the property taxes. I want to keep a fully funded police force. I think that's important. I think we have a crime problem in this country and it's not being addressed by a lot of political leaders in this country. But I want to make sure that Winooski remains safe and a good place to raise a family. Thank you very much, David. And thank you to all of the candidates for participating in tonight's Winooski City Council election forum. We'd also like to thank our viewers for tuning in and calling in to Town Meeting TV's ongoing coverage of local community candidates, budget, and ballot items. You can find this and more forums at www.ch17.tv. And don't forget to vote on or before the first Tuesday in March, Town Meeting Day, March 1, 2022. Early voting by mail is available by contacting your town's clerk office and polls will also be open from 7am to 7pm. Thank you very much for watching.