 I will now call the Board of Finance to order at 5.39pm. And I would welcome a motion on the agenda from member of the board. Councillor Paul. Motion to approve the agenda as presented. Excellent. Second. Second. So, Councillor Pine gets his hand up first there. We'll give the second to Councillor Pine. Is there any discussion of the motion? All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. And we have an agenda. And now we will go to item number two, which is the public forum. And Jordan Riddell and Hannah will be helping manage the public forum. So those will be the voices that you hear. And Jordan, why don't you share our first speakers? Sure. One other thing I would add to what the mayor said is that please sign into the Zoom using your name that you used to sign up for public forum. That is the way that I will be able to identify you to enable your microphone. So if you've signed in under an organization name or maybe another person's name, I won't be able to identify you in the queue. So please sign in using the name that's associated with the email address that you signed up using public forum. So the first person I have signed up for public forum is Kayson. Kayson, I'm not able to identify you. So I'm going to move on to the next person we have signed up for public forum, who is Flynn. And the next person is Carolyn Sweeteck. So Flynn Aldrich, I've enabled your microphone. Perfect. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Perfect. Hi. Sorry, I know it's not on the budget tonight, but my name is Flynn Aldrich. And I just wanted to echo the calls from last Thursday's meeting and also echo the voices of many people who cannot attend tonight. And that is once again to defund the Burlington Police Department boldly and dramatically. On Thursday, when we heard from Chief Morrison, it was incredibly disappointing to hear that their plan was to add more implicit bias training and add other money-sucking police reforms that we have already seen do not work. BPD is an inherently racist and violent institution and no amount of retraining or reforming will change that fact. Yeah, that's all I want to say. Please, we just hope that you hear that. Thank you, I yield my time. Thank you, Flynn. Carolyn is next on my list. And after that, I have Scheller-Hinkel. Carolyn, see if that works. Carolyn, you should be able to speak now. Carolyn, Carolyn, it looks like your microphone is unmuted. Okay, I'm gonna go to the next person, Scheller-Hinkel, and then after that, Kristine Nodd. Scheller-Hinkel, I'm not able to identify you. Kristine Nodd, I'm not able to identify you. Jeannie, Phillips is next. Jeannie, I've enabled your microphone. Jeannie, you should be able to... Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Thank you, my name is Jeannie Phillips. I currently live in London Dairy, Vermont, but I'm moving to Burlington, Vermont in July. I urge you to build towards a future that systemically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. Therefore, I urge you to reduce uniformed officers by 30%, get all police out of all schools, stop using police officers for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, and Jason Bellavance. I urge you to reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an equal opportunity officer with oversight of a newly formed minority-owned business city procurement program. I urge you to fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and to partner with people of color-led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Don't pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. I now see Kristi Nod. Kristi, I will enable your microphone. And then after that, I have Alana Redden. You hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. My name is Kristi Nold. I'm a public school teacher, and I'm here to echo the voices that are saying it is really time to radically reduce the uniformed police officers, especially in all of our public schools. I'm also asking that we stop using police for any truancy calls. It is time to fire the abusive officers, and we must be reinvesting in communities of color. I believe we should be establishing an office of equal opportunity that is staffed with an EO officer with oversight of newly formed minority-owned business city procurement program. It's time to fund the racial equity, inclusion, and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. Additionally, it's important to partner with people of color-led businesses and communities to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I believe it's imperative that a budget not pass until these demands are met. Now, more than ever, we're going to need counselors in our public schools, not police. Thank you, I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next up, we have Alana Redden, and then after that, Devin Russell. Alana, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Great, thank you. Hi, my name is Alana Redden. I'm a white resident of Burlington. I first wanna start by acknowledging the black organizers who have created the demands I'm about to read. I will never understand what it is like to work tirelessly to try to change a system that refuses to honor and value and protect my life. As a white person, it took many years to begin to feel the grief and the heartbreak that comes with white supremacy. In the past, I felt lost as to where and how sometimes to leverage my white voice. But today, I think it should be clear to all of us that we, the people of Burlington, led by you, are elected officials can divest from a system of violence and we can reinvest in a system of support. We can choose to acknowledge how racism is woven into every strand of every police department and then choose a different way forward. So with that being said, I echo the demands put forward. A 30% reduction in uniformed officers. We need to get all police out of schools. We need to stop using police fraternity calls and officers Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bell events need to be fired. With this extra money, we need to reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity stacked with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program and fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. Additionally, partner with people of color led businesses and communities members to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. As we're seeing Minneapolis is disbanding their police department. Nashville just spent 11 hours listening to their residents demand the same thing. The first step in Burlington is to meet the above demands. And if any counselor, any council member does not support these demands, that to me is an active and blatant communication to the people of Burlington that those folks do not have the integrity and the courage to deserve their job. Thank you. The next person we have is Devin Russell. Devin, I've enabled your microphone. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Great, my name is Devin Russell. I'm a resident of Burlington, Vermont. And first I'd like to make it clear that as a white woman, I am here to further the vision of black community members in order to achieve collective liberation for all. In building towards a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy, my demands in solidarity with the racial justice alliance are as follows. A 30% reduction in uniformed officers. I echo those who spoke before me and they're urging to get all police out of schools and to stop using police for truancy calls as a step towards community love safety. Fire abuse of officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance keeping them on the force regardless of their history of abuse is counterproductive to this movement and this work. Following the divestment within the police force we can use those funds to reinvest in communities of color. Begin by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. Let this reallocation of funds also include funding for the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and including partnership with people of color led businesses and communities to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Lastly, I demand that you do not pass a budget until these needs are met. Thank you, I yield my time. Next, we have Ace McCarleton and then after that we have Tom Redden. Hello, I'm Ace McCarleton. Thank you so much for hearing us tonight. I am here to demand along with the racial justice alliance that a 30% reduction in uniformed officers happen immediately, that we get all police out of schools, that we stop using police for truancy calls, that we fire abusive officers, Joseph Caro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bella Vance and that we reinvest in communities of color, that we establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an equal opportunity officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. That we fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable fully operational capacity, that we partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective and that we do not pass a budget until these demands are met. This is essential for us to do in this time. It is too late for us to be taking these actions. We must already have done these things and so we must do them immediately. Thank you. Okay, next we have Tom Redden and then after Tom we have Gina Clithero. Tom, you should be able to unmute yourself. Can you hear me now? Yes, we can hear you. Okay, thank you. Thank you all for listening so well tonight. I wanna echo many of what, many of the things that have been said so far. And the main point I wanna make is to recognize how law enforcement and the need for law enforcement is directly and proportionally related to the success or failures of the social services. And the question is either we build a society from the bottom up taking care of people or we have to suffer the consequences. And so I wanna strongly and suggest the council fully finance housing, healthcare, education and to make sure that people who are either on the street or in general surely have their basic needs including food and healthcare satisfied on a daily basis. And so if we're able to fully finance the basic needs of the population then clearly law enforcement takes on a very, very different picture. Thank you so much. Okay, our next person is Gina. Gina, I'm gonna enable your microphone and after that we have Emma Redden. Hi there, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. So my name is Gina. I would just like to echo the sentiment that's been shared already a number of times in support of the racial justice alliances demands. We must defund the Burlington Police Department and reinvest in our communities of color in Burlington. We demand that there's a 30% reduction in uniformed officers immediately. And the way to do that is to get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls and fire abusive officers such as Joseph Caro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bella Vance. And we have to reinvest in communities of color and how we can do that is establish an office of equal opportunity staffed within equal opportunity officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to be able to fully operate and partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And we demand that we do not pass a budget until all these demands are met. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, the next person we have is Emma Redden. Emma, I've enabled your microphone. I'm in Burlington. Burlington has enormous work to do to address the racism and white supremacy embedded in all parts of our community. And the police department is a really powerful place to start the police as an inherently violent institution reforming the police is like literally an oxymoron. I stand in solidarity with the demands from the racial justice alliance to immediately effective immediately have a 30% reduction in uniformed officers get all police out of schools, stop using the police for truancy calls and fire officers, Joseph Corough, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance who've committed horrible acts of police brutality. And the money that we save needs to be directly reinvested in communities of color in Burlington to establish an office of equal opportunity to fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable it to operate at full capacity and to partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And where I stand with hundreds of other people who are calling tonight to ask you to demand that you do not pass a budget until this is met. White folks not listening to black people's vision of how to save all of us is racism. So to white folks in city government, I wanna say I don't believe y'all deserve their jobs if the work you do is going to be to protect white supremacy and racist institutions. I yield my time. The next person on public forum is Ian Lund and then after that, Britta Fisher. Ian, I've enabled your microphone. Thank you, can you hear me? Yes. My name is Ian Lund and I live in Ward six. Over the last week, I've seen hundreds of videos of stomach-turning police brutality in every major city across the country. These videos remind us that state-sponsored violence occurs systematically in every state across the country every day. Honorable city officials, you have the distinct privilege of being able to change the system. In Minneapolis, where a police officer murdered George Floyd, the city council recognized the need to abolish a broken and racist system. Why not follow their lead? Ostensibly progressive cities like Burlington and Minneapolis need to set an example for other municipalities governed by a white majority. Let's show we care about our black and brown brothers and sisters by dismantling the systems that our own black Vermonters are telling us cause them trauma. We need to shift resources out of the most harmful punitive systems, namely our local police, and shift money to the types of resources that will allow communities to be safe and to thrive. I request that the budget reflect a 30% reduction in uniformed officers with that money reinvested in communities of color. Burlington should follow the racial justice alliance's recommendations and establish an office of equal opportunity, fund the racial equity, inclusion, and belonging function to be able to enable full operational capacity and partner with people of color-led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And please fire the aforementioned officers. It's literally the least we can do. Imagine many years from now explaining to your grandchildren what the police were and how you helped turn them into something better. I yield my time. The next person we have is Britta Fisher. Britta, I've enabled your microphone. Great. Can you hear me? Yes. OK. So as a white person in Burlington, I'm here to uplift the demands and needs of Black people and other people of color in our community and also in recognition that our current police system isn't protecting any of us, but rather private property at its core and that Black lives matter more than property in our police system. The proposed use of force reforms do not address even the history of violence from the Burlington Police Department officers and also includes languages that allows for loopholes and offers when possible, when feasible, that make it impossible to hold officers accountable for those actions. So I'm here in solidarity with the racial justice collective to demand a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, including getting all police out of schools, not using police for truancy calls, firing the abuse of officers, Joseph Carrow, Corey Campbell, and Jason Bellavance, and then using that money to reinvest in communities of color and establish an office of equal opportunity, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partner with people of color-led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And finally, to demand that you don't pass a budget until all of these demands are met. These are all things that have been shown to be the only ways to stop the violence that's happening right now that police are commanding against people of color and black people in particular. And it's necessary. OK, the next person we have is Denise Casey. And then after that, we have Kit Andrews. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Great, thank you. So I am also here in support of the Racial Justice Alliance Demands. And I want to start just by thinking about the ways that police officers are trained and the ways the mental health counselors are trained. Because really, ultimately, what we need right now is to address the systemic poverty and racism that is living in our community, our more community support and social resources. And so when you think about how people are trained as mental health workers, and then you think about how the police are trained to use force, those are very different approaches to conflict resolution. And one way that we can start to change that is by following the demands that the Racial Justice Alliance is putting out, a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, just getting out of schools, stop using the police for truancy calls, fire the abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, and Jason Bellavance, reinvest in communities of colors, establish an office of equal opportunity, staff an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority-owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color-led businesses, organizations, and community members to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I think it's really imperative for us to look at how we look at conflict resolution here. And historically, I mean, the history of the police is rooted in white supremacy and violence. And I think we really need to reflect on how we actually, at this moment in time, get to be a part of something wildly transformational. That's something that all of you in the seats that you have have an opportunity to participate that and follow the leadership of Minneapolis and Nashville. Thank you for your time. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, the next person we have is Kit Andrews. Kit, I've enabled your microphone. And after Kit, we have Keith Brunner. Okay, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. My name is Kit Andrews. I'm a resident of Ward 3. I favor the Board of Finance recommending to the city council that Burlington defund the police department. For exactly what this would mean for Burlington, Vermont, I don't know. But whatever it would result in here in Burlington, I know that the intent would be to make major fundamental changes in the current funding of the police department and in the overall city budget so that the public is made more safe and so that city social services of all kinds become way more responsive to citizens' human needs. Even though I recognize it would take, it will take months to come up with a plan for what defunding the police means in Burlington and to fully implement it. I am sure that budget and program changes can be started right now. I trust that city counselors will, and that police commissioners and the police chief and that other city leaders will keep an eye on what is developing in Minneapolis. And I trust that you all will continue to get citizen input. I'll end by quoting Linda Sarsour, whom I heard on Democracy Now this morning. Looking at New York City, which is where she lives, she said that defunding the police means taking the police out of schools, taking the police out of those social responses that deal with people in mental health crisis, taking police out of same related to homelessness and reallocating all those resources to social services. Thank you very much. So I've been asked by Council President Tracy how someone can rename themselves if they're signed in under a different name. You have to log out of Zoom and then rejoin the meeting using your name that is associated with the email address that you sent in, just to make sure we get everyone identified. So I just wanted to point that out. And if you believe that you're under a different name, please feel free to respond to the email and just let us know what that name is so that we can properly identify you. So next we have Keith Brunner. Keith, I think you're under Lindsey Brunner, so I'm gonna unmute you. And then after Keith, we have Lauren Akin. Okay. Keith, you have to unmute yourself on your end as well. I'm prompting you to unmute. Okay, I'm gonna move on to the next speaker, Lauren Akin. Lauren, I'm enabling your microphone. Can you all hear me? Yes, we can. Thanks. Hi, my name is Lauren Akin. And I'm really grateful to be here tonight as a white woman and a Burlington resident adding my voice in solidarity with communities of color and the demands of the racial justice alliance. We've heard those demands a lot tonight, which I'm also grateful to just continue to add my voice and say them again. In solidarity with building towards a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. I demand a 30% reduction in uniformed officers that all police are removed from schools, that police are no longer used for truancy calls, that abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance be fired. I'm also calling and demanding the reinvestment in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staff with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. And that there be funding for the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. I'm also demanding that Burlington partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And I'm also demanding that a budget not pass until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, the next speaker we have is Laura Williams and then Giannina Gasparo-Beckstrom. Laura, I've enabled your microphone. Okay, my name is Laura Williams. I'm a resident of Burlington, a concerned citizen, a parent and an educator. I'm speaking tonight in support of divesting funds from the Burlington Police Department. I demand that a budget is not passed unless these actions take place. Okay, I just lost my page. Okay, can you still hear me? Yeah. Okay. All right, at 30% reduction in uniformed officers, get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, and Jason Belivance. Reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. Fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. Partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement of a cultural empowerment community collective. Please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, next we have Giannina, and then after Giannina we have Kenneth Martel. Can you hear me? Yes. Hello, my name is Giannina Gasparo-Bextro, I'm a Burlington resident, I live in Ward three. I'm here to give my support to the demands created by the Racial Justice Alliance, like many others on this call. These include a 30% reduction in uniformed officers to get all police out of all schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire the abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, and Jason Belivance. To reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunities staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program to fund the racial equality inclusion and belonging function and to enable full operational capacity to partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Please do not pass this budget until these demands are met. Thank you, I yield my time. Oh, Kenneth Martel, you're next. I've enabled your microphone. Okay, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Great, let me just pull up my notes here. My name is Ken Martel, I live in Ward eight. All right, I lost my notes again, oh man. Could you come back to me? I just lost my notes. Okay, I'm gonna put you at the end of the queue. Next on our list, we have Alyssa Chen. Alyssa, I've enabled your microphone. Hello, can you all hear me? Yeah. Cool, my name is Alyssa Chen and I live in Burlington, Vermont. As an educator, I've seen firsthand the ways policing in the criminal justice system has disproportionately disrupted the education of my black and brown students. Burlington police have only been in Burlington public schools since 1999. I do not think it's a coincidence how this coincides with the growth of the immigrant and refugee communities of color in Burlington. Burlington needs to divest in state sanctioned violence and invest in things that actually keep our communities of color safe, which I'll describe below in the demands. I want to support the following demands put forth by the Racial Justice Alliance to help dismantle systemic racism are as follows, a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, get police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Joseph, Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Bellavance, reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity, staff through the EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and communities to implement the implement of a cultural empowerment community collective. And I really want to urge you all to not pass a budget till these demands are met. As I mentioned, it looks like the Burlington police were put in the schools in a racially motivated way and to keep them in there is just a racist action that kind of supports that history. So I'm asking you to act differently. Thanks and I see my time. Okay, the next person we have is Meg Reynolds. And then after that, we have Elizabeth Macgabeth. Meg, I've enabled your microphone. Great, hi. Here's everyone can hear me. We can hear you. I am falling in an excited to stand in solidarity with the Racial Justice Alliance. I remember in high school, I grew up in New Hampshire, but I remember in high school when police were added and then in the decades that have followed, it is not shown to make these spaces safer. So as we are considering this budget, I'm asking in solidarity, as I mentioned, with the Racial Justice Alliance, a 30% reduction in uniform officers getting all police out of schools. Yeah, like now. And then stop using police for truancy calls that will need to fire abusive officers, including Joseph Carroll, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance. And that we take those resources and reallocate them to invest in communities of color. That means establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with a neo officer with oversight of newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement in the implementation of the cultural empowerment community collective and to not pass the budget until these demands are met. I wanna echo the words of the folks that have gone before me and just thinking about the transformative opportunity we have here to take better care of our community as a whole and to reduce the presence of an essentially violent system that brings more harm than is necessary in many situations. And that's it. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next on the list, I have Hen Joiner and then, or sorry, it's next on my list side, but Elizabeth MacGavist. Elizabeth, I'm not able to identify you. Hen Joiner is next followed by Marcy Gallagher. Hen has enabled your microphone. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, I'm Hen Joiner. I'm a resident of Burlington, Miro. You tweeted that the Black Lives Matter flag is flying in front of City Hall to inspire us to do much better. Here's one way you can start. Listen to the black members of our community when they ask you to use your power and privilege to make a material change. You have thus far failed to meet a single one of the demands that Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington has put forward, the first of which is to take away the publicly funded salaries of Bellavance, Coro and Campbell. Bellavance, Coro and Campbell are collectively paid over $200,000 a year. Buying these officers and leaving their positions vacant would free up nearly a quarter of a million dollars to be reallocated to social programs that need funding. Before we talk about cutting any other program from the budget, their salaries should be the first to go. In addition to these demands, I stand with others in the community in demanding a 30% reduction in uniformed officers. Leave the vacant positions vacant. We demand that funds be reinvested in communities of color in Burlington. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. You have over 200 members of the community queued to speak on that tonight and we're only a subsect of the larger movement. What are you going to do to meet the demands of your community? Ultimately, there's a $17 million solution to your budget problem in defunding the police department. Enough performing, we demand action. Fire Bellavance, Coro and Campbell defund the Burlington Police Department. Black Lives Matter, I yield my time. So for folks who may be just joining the public meeting in order to speak on public comment, please email publicforum at BurlingtonVT.gov. The next person on our list is Marcy Gallagher. Marcy, I've enabled your microphone. Great, can you hear me? Yeah. Okay, my name is Marcy. I am a white resident of Ward One. And I think that to spend 20% of the general fund budget on a department that's not only rooted in institutional racism, but that actively employs cops with violent records is really absurd. So I support a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting all police out of schools and using police for truancy calls. Not using police for truancy calls. We know that the safest communities in the U.S. aren't those with the most cops. They're the ones with the most resources and therefore we should reallocate money budgeted to BPT data uses that actually enrich and protect the community, including reinvesting in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. I had to fund the racial equity inclusion belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Additionally, I support that officers Campbell, Carl and Bella Vance be fired and that a budget is not passed until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay. Betsy McGabbas just emailed me the name she is signed under. So Betsy, I've enabled your microphone. Awesome, thank you. Can you hear me? All right, I hear you. So thanks for getting me on. I also want to echo the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance and respond to something that I heard at the last Board of Finance meeting. And that is, that's something that the mayor and the police chief said that Burlington is somehow different from other cities because we have been putting resources towards progressive policing, 21st century policing, not my terms, but for the last 10 years. And guess what I want to say is that if we've been putting money towards reforming the police department towards something more progressive, we should have something to show for that. And we don't, even within the last 18 months, the Burlington police department that they had to have demonstrated that they are just as bad racist, violent as any other city in the United States. We've had multiple court cases against the Burlington police department for excessive use of court force against multiple black men in our community. Cory Campbell escalated a situation with Douglas Kilburn and ended up punching and killing him. And then in the last three months, or six months, we've had three police chiefs because the first two worker acid community members online. So if anything, Burlington is a poster child or a perfect case study of why reforming the police isn't working because we've tried to for the last 10 years and why we must ultimately defund and abolish the police. So I also want to reiterate the demands already said tonight, and that is that we needed to do 30% reduction in uniformed officers by getting all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls and fire Joseph Cory or Joseph Coro, Cory Campbell and Jason Bellafence. We must reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. We must fund the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, the next person we have in the queue is Nathan Lanteri. Nathan, I'm not able to identify you. So I'm going to go to Phoebe Gunthermore. Phoebe, I've enabled your microphone. Hi, can you all hear me? Yes. Hi. My name is Phoebe Gunthermore. I'm a white woman. I grew up in Southern Vermont and I've lived in Chidin County for the past six years. I plan to live my life here in Vermont. Vermont is the whitest state in our country and it has a deeply racist past and present. The police is an institution founded by and rooted in white supremacy and in violence. I do not trust the police to non-violently address our community's problems. Too many black people have been killed and brutalized by the police. Too many black people live their lives fearing the institution that allegedly is supposed to keep us all safe. Too many black people are in prison. According to the Vermont Department of Corrections populations report in Vermont, as of May 26th of this year, black people make 1.4% of the population and 9.4% of incarcerated people. 1.4% of the population and 9.4% of incarcerated people. My sincere hope is that we abolish the police. We can look to Minneapolis. It is possible. But today I want to strongly state my support for a first step, a first tangible impactful step to take care in Burlington is to divest from the police. I hope that the funding could in part be reallocated towards communities of color and organization, social services and initiatives that support our community's safety, healing and responsibility to one another. I am a full part of the demands created by the racial justice alliance. We call for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers getting all police out of schools to not use police persuancy calls to fire abusive officers Joseph Garrow, Corey Campbell, Jason Relevance. We want to use this money instead to reinvest in communities of color to establish an office of equal opportunity, staff with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement of the cultural empowerment community collective. I ask you to not pass a budget until these demands are met. Like I see your faces, but are you hearing all these people and all the people to come? I just, I just want to know. I am deeply vested in my home state. I love Vermont. I am a Vermonter. Freedom and unity is what I believe in. Please wrap up here. This is the first step. I know we all have a lot of work to do. Thank you for your time. Somebody emailed me to ask where, what number we're at in the list. We are at number 30. And I next on my list is Haley Shreiner. Haley, I've enabled the microphone so you should be able to speak. Hi, can you hear me okay? Yes, we can. Okay, thank you so much. I'm a resident of word six. I also want to locate myself racially as a white person. I'm calling in support of the demands formed by the racial justice alliance to uplift communities of color and all people in our community. You've heard the demands and saying them again, a 30% reduction in uniformed officers to get all police out of schools, to stop using police for truancy calls, to fire the abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, and Jason Bell Vance. We can use those funds to reinvest in our communities of color to establish an office of equal opportunities staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. Fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable a fully operational capacity. Partner with people of color like businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Please do not pass the budget until these demands are met. I believe that a better future is possible for our city if we reallocate our resources towards systems of support. I thank you for your time and I yield my remaining time. Okay, the next person I have is J.S. Jones. I believe that's Jabari Jones. So Jabari, I'm gonna unmute your microphone. And after that, we have Zeeba Shassan. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you. My name is Jabari Jones. I live in Ward 1. I am Black and I have lived here for four years. In those four years, I've witnessed a level of corruption and brutality, collusion, lack of empathy rooted in white supremacist culture that takes my breath away. I support the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance because I believe these are the bare minimum demands that must be met in order to build a future Burlington that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. I cannot breathe until there is a 30% reduction in uniformed officers. I cannot breathe until Burlington gets all police out of schools. I cannot breathe until Burlington stops using police for truancy calls. I cannot breathe until abusive officers, including Joseph Corot, Corey Campbell, and Jason Belivance are fired. I cannot breathe until the city reinvesting communities of color by establishing an Office of Equal Opportunity staff with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. I cannot breathe until the city can fund the racial equity inclusion belonging function. I cannot breathe until the city partners with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I cannot breathe in this town until the city passes a budget that meets these bare minimum demands. I yield my time. The next person I have is the Eva Shossan and after that we have Emma Schoenberg. So, Eva, I'm enabling your microphone. Hey, can everybody hear me? Yeah. Okay. My name is Ziava Chason. I've lived in Vermont most of my life and I'm here as a white woman, amplifying the voices of black organizers making the following demands from the Racial Justice Alliance. We're building towards a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy, of 30% reduction in unarmed officers, get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire, abuse of officers, Joseph Corough, Corey Campbell and Jason Belvance, reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity, EO, staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund for racial equity, inclusion and belonging, REBI function to enable full operational city capacity, partner with people of color like businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective and do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you. I yield the rest of my time. The next person we have is Emma Schoenberg. Emma, I'm not able to identify you. So I'm going to move on to our next speaker, Kenzie Hines. Kenzie, I'm enabling your microphone. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah, great. To echo everyone before me, the Burlington Police Department needs to be defunded. The officers, Joseph Corough, Jason Belvance and Corey Campbell need to be fired, but that is just the bare minimum. Further, I expect more from our progressive city counselors. I ask that they step up and go beyond defunding, stop thinking cops and call for the abolition of police. I yield my time. Sorry, I just want to take one minute to transition over to the next person running the timer. So Hannah, thank you for running the timer so far and we're going to switch over to Colin. So I'm just going to give us a minute to switch over to the person working the timer. Colin, are you able to share your screen? Oh, I have to promote you to a panelist. Whoops, sorry, Colin. There we go, sorry about that. Colin's going to be able to share his screen in just a moment. Thank you, Colin. The next person we have is Dana Kaplan. And after that we have Ann Lezak. Dana, I'm enabling your microphone. Hello, city counselors, I am here. Can you hear me? Yes. My name is Dana Kaplan. I use he and him pronouns. I am a longtime member of this community. As a white person, there is so much I will never understand about living with the daily toxic fear producing and deadly impacts that white supremacy and racialized violence breed, most specifically on our black community members. But here is what I do know. I can and must keep listening to the very people of color most harmed by our racist system. And as elected officials, it is literally your role to do the same. Thank you to the Racial Justice Alliance of Vermont for their labor and putting together this vision for what a less toxic city can look like. In solidarity, I ask for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting police out of our schools, stopping police for truancy calls, firing officers Joseph Coral, Cory Campbell, Jason Belivance, and that we take those resources and reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an equal opportunity officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable fully operational capacity and partner with people of color led businesses and communities to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. The world is literally on fire and it's ours to make right in this blazing moment. The only path forward is to acknowledge the harm, put out the fires and build something new. Tonight, I ask that you not pass a budget until these minimum demands are met. The daily effects of racism make it impossible for our black community members to find safety and support in the best of circumstances, let alone the very people tasked to do just that. We all know there are incredible barriers that come with just trying to live your life as a person of color in Vermont. Barriers born from intentionally racist policies and practices. We pride ourselves on being a progress... In a year at a time. Thank you. Thank you for your time. The next person I have is Anne Lefak. And then after that, I have Grace O'Dowell. Anne, I'm enabling your microphone. Hello, am I on? Yes, we can hear you. Okay. The national response to George Floyd's murder by police has brought millions of white people like me to understand that the scourge of racism is as dangerous and lethal to people of color as a COVID-19 pandemic. Police reform is a key place to act. I strongly support the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance, including the specific actions others have shared that I'm not going to repeat in the interest of times. Generally, the demands are for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, including police out of schools and firing of abusive officers and reinvestment in communities of colors, of color in ways that others have described. And I joined the Racial Justice Alliance in demanding that the council not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Thank you. The next person we have is Grace O'Dowell. And after that, we have DJ Liu. Grace, I am enabling your microphone. Thanks, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. I am calling as part of this coalition. My name is Grace O'Dowell. I use she, her pronouns. And I am standing in solidarity with the demands put forward by the Racial Justice Alliance. Now is the time for Burlington to show what a community can do. I've been inspired by the organizing that has been taking place currently in Minneapolis to defund the police department. And I want to acknowledge the decades of organizing work that happened to allow that movement to happen now. And there have been decades of Racial Justice organizing here in Vermont. And I offer my gratitude to the organizers who on whose shoulders we stand for this moment to be possible. We are building towards a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. Our shared demands are a 30% reduction in uniformed officers. We want police out of schools. We want meaningful supports for students. We want police to be stopped in use for truancy calls. And we ask for the firing of the abuse of officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Bellavance. We ask the city council to reinvest in our communities of color. We need to support our communities of color and make Vermont a place that is welcoming truly. We need to establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an equal opportunity officer that has oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. We need to fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. We need to partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. We ask that you not pass a budget until these demands are met and make everyone in Burlington stand together in solidarity. Okay, next we have Lou Mulvaney-Stanek. And after Lou, we have Alex Grapo Cohen. Lou, I've been able to your microphone. Hi there, can you hear me? Yes. Yes, hi. I'm DJ Lou, aka Lou Mulvaney-Stanek. Everyone on the committee here knows me quite well from being involved in Burlington for many years here. Thank you so much for the time to speak tonight. I'm a white queer Vermonter who has been a Burlingtonian for nearly 20 years now. I own a home with my family in Ward 7 in the New North End, and I'm proud to be represented by Yaeli who's one of the few Black city counselors ever in our city's history. Burlington must respond to the pandemic of systemic racism with the same focus, action, and funding pivots that we did for COVID-19. We have seen what our city can do when we have the will to respond to protect us all. We need city leadership to show that this same immediate action and prioritization is how we want to spend our tax dollars. I echo the urge to reduce the Burlington Police Department's funding. I think we can do public safety better so that Black lives are protected and not brutalized. I echo the funding of the budget and I also echo all of the other talking points that have happened tonight for the sake of time. I'll leave it to that. I think as a finance committee, you know that where we spend our dollars is how we prioritize the values of our city. This is a moment for moral courage, courage and action for all of you. The community is watching, our kids are watching. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. I've received a couple of requests from meeting participants that I more frequently announce the number, what number we are in the queue. So I'm going to go to Alex Grefo Cohen, who's number 39 currently on the list. And Alex, I'm gonna enable your microphone after Alex is Olivia Horton. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Excellent, thank you. So we currently face two global pandemics. While Burlington may be adequately responding to the COVID pandemic, we're failing to address the pandemic of systemic racism. For us to claim that we are a progressive city, our government must be working to dismantle systemic racism and retool police forces to help rather than harm our communities of color. By meeting the following demands from the Racial Justice Alliance, our government can start to dismantle all systems in Burlington that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. The very least we could do is reduce the number of uniformed officers by 30%. We do not need police in our schools, we do not need them responding to truancy calls, and we cannot possibly tolerate officers who use excessive force against citizens of color, like Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, and Jason Bellavance. By keeping them on city payroll, we're implicitly saying that this is okay, and we can do better than that. It doesn't matter that the Burlington Police Department believes they've been adequately disciplined. And with the funds opened up, as others have said, we can reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity, funding the racial equity inclusion and belonging function, giving this new government function the ability to actually make a true difference and give it more opportunity to do that difference and partnering with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. If you pass a budget without meeting these demands, you have failed Burlington's communities of color. The city council is the opportunity to be a moral example to other cities across the country and take a strong stance against systemic racism, and we all implore you to not squander this opportunity. Thank you, that's all. So next we have Olivia Horton, and after Olivia Horton we have Olivia Gamsu. Olivia Horton, I've enabled your microphone. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, thanks. I stand with the Racial Justice Alliance and others who have spoken before me. Burlington police play roles in our city that are not only ineffective, but are actively harmful and violent. Performs aren't the answer and they aren't enough. I echo the demand that BPD reduced its uniformed officers by 30% and that should begin with the firing of Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance and others who use their position for abuse. I also ask that we remove police from schools and stop using police for truancy calls. The police department budget takes funds away from community resources that could be better serving our needs. We have the money, we just need to spend it correctly. We need to reinvest in communities of color. We need to create an office of equal opportunity and staff that office with an EO officer who oversees minority owned business city procurement program. We need to fully fund the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function. And the city needs to partner with people of color, lead businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I know that the police budget was not on your agenda today, but this is really critical action. It can't wait. And I insist that you not pass a budget until these demands are met. We have a lot of work to do. Thank you. Okay, Olivia Gamsu, you are next. Hi all, can you hear me? Yes. My name is Olivia Gamsu. I use she, her pronouns. I am a Burlington resident and I am also a victim's advocate and violence prevention educator at a nearby domestic and sexual violence agency. I'm here to voice my personal support for defunding the Burlington Police Department. As a white woman who has lived here for years, it is no surprise that I have not personally experienced violence at the hands of law enforcement, but I have witnessed it in the city over and over again. And I have heard the voices of our black neighbors repeatedly explain that they have never and will never feel safe around the police. I have also supported survivors of domestic and sexual violence in Vermont who not only struggle with the trauma they experienced, but also from their interactions with law enforcement. If their offender isn't also a cop, studies show that 40% of police officers commit domestic violence themselves. They oftentimes face disbelief or lack of support from law enforcement, especially if the survivor is a person of color, has a substance use disorder, and or has a mental illness. And that's only if they report the violence. Many folks stay silent because they already know that the police do not exist to serve them or they worry that their black or brown offender might be injured or killed by police when they arrive. No matter how much training violence prevention folks provide, a system rooted in slave patrols built specifically to defend white people's property and uphold white patriarchal supremacy cannot be fixed. It is working just as our ancestors intended it to work. We need to defund the police and extend fund social service programs and other initiatives that will actually make Burlington a safer, more accepting city. I also voiced the demands for a 30% reduction uniformed officers, remove police from schools and campuses, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance, reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office for equal opportunity. With oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function. Among the other things, please do this immediately as soon as possible. Thank you. Okay, next we have Robert Reeves and after Robert, Robert, we have Mel Carpenter. Robert, I've enabled your microphone. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. Hi, my name is Robert Reeves and I am a resident of Burlington Ward 1. I'm here today to request that the Board of Finance begin the process of reallocating funds away from our police budget and investing these funds in accordance with the demands outlined by the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance. We can't keep asking armed officers to perform services in which they are not qualified, which leads to escalation and violence overwhelmingly in communities of color. Reforms sound good on paper such as the recently announced requirement to intervene during excessive force, but the Minneapolis PD also have a requirement to intervene and that reform didn't prevent the death of George Floyd. We must reimagine community support and public safety in Burlington and begin reinvesting where it will be the most helpful and least harmful. Black lives matter and as a resident of Burlington, I want to see our city government acting in ways that show me, they also agree that black lives matter. Please start by reallocating funds from our police budget in accordance with the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance as stated by many others in firing officers, Belivance, Karo and Campbell. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you, I yield the rest of my time. Okay, the next person we have is Nell Carpenter and after Nell we have Breonna Hauser. Now I've been able to microphone. Can you hear me? Yes. Great. Hi everyone, my name is Nell Carpenter and I'm a white person living in Vermont. I want to start off by saying the names of some of the black men who have been victims of police brutality by the Burlington Police Department in the last year. Muhammad Lujizo, Lujizo Lujizo, Albin Melly, Charlie Melly, Jeremy Melly and Mabior Jock. None of the officers involved have been fired or given consequences beyond small, very pathetic suspension for these active injustices. Vermont is not exempt from this conversation. Burlington is not exempt from this conversation. Though Chief Morrison, Mayor Weinberger and other members of our city government fail to see the connection between what these men have suffered and the police brutality happening in other parts of the country, we do not. We are not better. As Betsy said, we are a poster city for police reform, not being enough. Start listening to black people and people of color. I stand with the Racial Justice Alliance in demanding a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, including the removal of police from schools, the end to police being used for truancy calls and the immediate termination of officers for Ocampo and Bellavance. The save money should be put towards the reinvestment in communities of color, including the establishment of an office of equal opportunity, funding of the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partnering with POC-led businesses and communities to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I demand that you do not pass this budget until all of these demands are met. Shouldn't have taken this longer, this level of organizing, largely led by people of color to get here. If you can't hear these demands stated hundreds of times and still not meet them, you'll be sending a clear message to this city about whose lives matter. Burlington needs to start actively dismantling all systems that contribute to the false narrative of white supremacy. Thank you. Okay, next we have Breonna Hauser and after Breonna, we have Emma Schoenberg. Breonna, I have enabled your microphone. Thank you. My name is Breonna Hauser. I am a white resident of Burlington, also here in solidarity with the racial justice alliance to work towards a future that dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. As has been stated before, Burlington is not exempt from this conversation. I echo the demands developed by the racial justice alliance. First, that there be a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, including getting all police out of schools, stopping the use of police for truancy calls, and the firing of abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, and Jason Bellavance. Second, we must reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Finally, we demand that the council not pass a budget until these demands are met. After the Minneapolis city council's recent vote to dismantle their police department, the president of the council stated, our commitment is to end policing as we know it and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe. If Burlington is really the progressive city, we say it is, we must follow suit and defund the police. Thank you, and I yield the rest of my time. Okay, so next we have Emma Schoenberg. Emma, I've enabled your microphone. Hi there, thank you for having me tonight. My name is Emma, I live in Ward 8 here in Burlington. I've lived here on and off for about 10 years. I think it's a temptation in this moment to say that it can't happen here, that we are a close knit community, that we are good neighbors and good friends, but if it can happen in Minneapolis, it can happen here, racial injustice, police brutality, communities being policed into an inch of existence. So it's on us at this moment to come together as a community and support the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance. As you know, that's a 30% reduction in uniformed officers that's getting all police out of schools to stop the school to prison pipeline, that's stop using police for truancy calls, that's firing abusive officers, Joseph Caro, Corey Campbell, Jason Belvance. This means reinvesting in communities of color, investing in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement cultural empowerment community collective. I urge you not to pass a budget until these demands are met so that we can work together as a community to see our situation improved. Thank you so much, I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Austin Khan followed by Julie Misuga. Austin, I've been able to your microphone. Hi, can you hear me okay? Yes. Hi, my name is Austin Khan, I'm a white resident of ward eight in Burlington. I stand before city government tonight in solidarity with black people across this country who are exhausted by the relentless necessity to declare that their lives matter. Our community is not made more safe by the police. White people and especially those in power like you mayor want to center your own comfort, de-prioritize your comfort and maybe even your career and listen to the voices in your community demanding an end to the racist police state. I wanna lift up the demands of the race of the racial justice alliance and recognize the important work they've been doing. Please hear our collective demands after like the hundredth time that it's been shared. A 30% reduction in uniformed officers could look like get all police officers out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, car, cambell and relevance. Use whatever levels of the city's disposal to bring charges against these criminals also. Reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. Partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective and do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you and I yield my time. Okay, next we have Julie Musuga and we're at number 46 in the queue. And after Julie we have Megan Foster. Sorry, had to unmute myself there. My name is Julie Musuga and I live in Ward two and I carry a lot of grief, but I'm white so I don't have to carry my fear out the door with me. This time last year I heard over and over the bizarre term progressive policing, this thing we were apparently striving for but that was very ill-defined. I was frustrated by all the questions I didn't have answers. Why will the BPD fire someone immediately for perjury that wait eight months to even mention blood pouring out of a man's skull onto the pavement and only give a suspension for the person who committed this act of violence. I do not understand why nearly a quarter or $17.99 million of the city's 2020 general fund is going toward the police. Burlington can pretend all it wants to be progressive but there is no amount of money, no petition the mayor can sign, no visit to a museum and no sensitivity training that can undo 400 years of systemic violence against people of color. If Burlington truly wants to be progressive we defund the police and funnel that money into solutions like those found in the racial justice alliance's demands. We must address poverty and racism holistically instead of policing people to death. I have witnessed Burlington step up for its people. Groups like Food Not Bombs and BTV Cup Watch are providing food and shelter for members of our community, de-escalating tense situations, keeping the police accountable by standing watch, pushing for better policies like no-moss polymigra and creating a space where armed officers don't get called and no one has to die. The community has shown us how to take care of one another. The BPD has shown us how to brutalize people. Why do we reward an institution whose leaders we cannot even trust not to lie to us on social media? Our black friends and neighbors are dying because those of us with privilege refuse to imagine ourselves in that pool of blood on the concrete. We must dare to create something different. Please meet the demands of the racial justice alliance that many have mentioned here. Thank you. Okay, next we have Megan Foster followed by Hugh Sitchell. Megan, I've enabled your microphone. Hi, thanks for the opportunity to speak today. I'm a white woman, I live in Ward 5. I've lived here for 12 years and I'm a parent in the school system here. We're building towards a future that systemically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. The demands that I'd like to make along with all the folks before me here, a 30% reduction in uniformed officers getting police out of school, stop using our police for truancy calls and to fire the abuse of officers, Joseph Corough, Corey Campbell, Jason Belladant. And then to take that reduction and reinvest in communities of color here to do that to establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program to fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and then to partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And please not pass this budget until these demands are met. And I just like to say, I believe we can do it. I yield the balance of my time. Okay, the next person on our list is Hugh Sitchell followed by Sydney Hinkley. Hugh, I'm not able to identify you. I'm gonna move on to Sydney Hinkley. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, I'm Sydney. I'm a resident of Burlington. I really wanna focus on the demands that are being made by the racial justice lines and also talk about the use of force policy. The use of force policy does not address systemic racism. And as Randall said in the press briefing last week, a lot of the complaints that they get from the police commission are about respect. We can hire Dr. Reverend Brian Mark as many times as we can, but it's not solving the issue and our police are still not respecting community members. I'd really like money to be spent to empower community liaisons who are culturally competent and can work across difference, who can provide mental health services and who are social workers. These are the demands of the racial justice alliance and do not pass a budget until these demands are. A 30% reduction in uniformed officers get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Belivance, reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with a EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, find the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable able full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I also want to implore city counselors to appreciate that this is probably one of the biggest turnouts for the board of finance and to appreciate that. Thank you. And next I have Gia Pandolfo followed by Vinnie Markson. Gina, I've enabled your microphone. Hi there, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Gina. Thank you all for listening tonight and for your public service. The city council's vote in March to pass a fair and impartial policing resolution was one step towards divesting from a system, from systemic violence, brutality, systemic violence and brutality that is inherently perpetuated by the racist institution of policing. Please continue to divest from the compliance with violent systems by following the demands created by the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance. For starters, reducing uniformed officers by 30%, which can be done by getting police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls and fire abusive officers including Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance. Divesting from compliance with violent systems and charting a path forward shall not happen in a vacuum. Reallocate the funds saved by radically reducing uniformed officers to reinvest in local communities of color through establishing an office of equal opportunity overseen by a newly formed minority owned business city council, city procurement program. Fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function and enable it to operate at full capacity. And partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Please do not pass a budget until these demands are met and please meet these long overdue demands and work to consider and act and act on what else you can do to stand from racial justice. Black lives matter. Thank you. Okay, next we have Vinnie Markson followed by Kate German. Vinnie, I'm enabling your microphone. Hi, yes, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Vinnie. I'm a ward seven resident and I'm commenting tonight to urge you, my representatives to redistribute my tax dollars away from the Burlington Police Department and towards constructive and ethical improvements that will truly serve the community. In conjunction with defunding BPD, I call on this committee not to pass a budget until the following bare minimum demands are met. An immediate 30% reduction in officers ceasing to use the BPD in schools or on truancy calls, as well as the immediate termination of officers Campbell, Belvance and Caro. I also ask that the city reinvest in communities of color by funding racial equity initiatives such as REI and B to full functional capacity, establishing an office of equal opportunity and partnering with the community and businesses led by people of color to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Additionally, I support the disarmament of BPD officers and see an urgent need for use of force laws rather than guidelines that are backed by clear legal consequences and enhanced by racial and hate motivated actions. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, next we have Kate German followed by John Thompson. Kate, I'm enabling your microphone. Hi, I wanna begin by inviting all of you listening to take a few deep breaths in order that you may remain fully present with my remarks and everyone remaining in the queue and stay in touch with the pain and humanity that brought us here tonight. My name is Kate German. She, her pronouns, I work and live in Burlington as a resident of Ward five. I'm here in support of the actions outlined by the Racial Justice Alliance that Burlington can take to reduce the racist violence perpetuated not just by our own racist police department but by the very institution of policing. If you are thinking that less drastic measures are possible I assure you that they're not. Reforms instituted in communities across the country for the last several decades have not resulted in improvement. Abolition must be the goal beginning with a 30% reduction in uniformed officers all police out of schools. Stop using police for truancy calls. Fire the abusive officers Joseph Coro, Cory Campbell, Jason Bellavance and perhaps others that we have yet to hear about. Reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. Fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. Partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, next I have John Thompson followed by Laura Engelken. John, I'm not able to identify you so I'm gonna move on to Laurel Engelken followed by Julia Tinggeton. Laura, I'm enabling your microphone. Thank you. My name's Reverend Laura Engelken and I'm a Christian minister and educator who lives and works in Burlington Ward 5. I want to echo calls for a 30% reduction in uniformed police officers. I believe it's essential and much more effective to focus our time, energy and resources as a city upon what we want to grow and flourish as opposed to what we want to prevent. I find it troubling that over a fifth of our city budget is dedicated to the police department. The proposal put forth by the Racial Justice Alliance seems to me to be a reasonable resourceful and also a reflection of the progressive values that our city espouses. I want our city to invest in tangible measures to prioritize empowerment and not enforcement such as an office for equal opportunity which directs resources and support to minority owned businesses. Efforts such as these are the types of wise investments that will transform our city for the health, safety and benefit of us all, particularly those of us who are people of color. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, next I have Julia Pingachan. I'm unmuted someone who I believe is Julia. Okay, I'm gonna move on to our next speaker, Ivy Rose Lopez. Ivy Rose, I'm not able to identify you. Joshua Friedman, I'm enabling your microphone and after Joshua we have Patrick McGuire. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, I just wanted to say thank you to the council members for being so patient. I understand that this topic is not on the agenda tonight but I do feel that it is important to listen to everybody's concerns. I would just like to echo the Racial Justice Alliance listed demands towards building a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. A 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting all police out of schools, stop using the police for truancy calls and fire the abusive officers, Coro, Campbell and Belivance. Reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity staffed within equal opportunity officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And I hope that you do not pass a budget until these demands are met. I feel that Burlington can be the vanguard of what Vermont can be in the future. I yield my time. Thank you. Okay, the next person we have is Patrick McGuire. Patrick, I'm not able to identify you. So I'm moving on to Joseph Moore. After Joseph Moore, we have Jessica Savage. My name is Joseph Moore. I'm a resident of Ward 7 and a member of the Champlain Valley Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. I'm here to join my neighbors in calling for an immediate reduction to the Burlington Police Department's general fund allocation for fiscal year 21 to be achieved through a 30% reduction in uniform officers, the firing of officers with histories of abuse, salary reductions for command staff, the elimination of overtime, zero funding for new equipment, especially weapons and zero funding for marketing and promotions. Savings from these reductions should go towards fully funding essential municipal services with zero cuts to the Department of Public Works and to seasonal jobs. Further, we must use our city budget to invest in social services, such as public housing, food assistance, medical care and expanded mental health services to protect our most vulnerable citizens. Most importantly, we must invest in communities of color, establishing an office of equal opportunity and partnering with people of color-led businesses and communities to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. In the medium term, we must begin to imagine a future for our city without police. Our current model of policing in the US and in Burlington is deeply rooted in histories of racialized violence and no amount of reform will ever change that reality. Only the complete abolition of policing as we know it will end the brutality that is disproportionately directed at our communities of color. Thank you. So just as a chair, I just wanna say a couple things. We've been going for about an hour and a half here. Thank you everyone for the input. Definitely hearing a bunch of new concepts and new calls here. I wanna say two things. One of the demands I've heard repeatedly is about Burlington police officers not going on truancy calls. This is something that we do not do at this point. We've checked, I hadn't heard this question before, so I double-checked our school resource officers. We do not do truancy. So I just wanna reassure people at that point. I also just wanna let the speakers know we got a long way to go with this. You are welcome to use your two minutes, however you'd like. You are certainly welcome to keep repeating the elements that we've heard already. If you want to just reference them as the demands of the racial justice alliance, we'll know what you're talking about as well. We are listening carefully, so I just wanna invite people to do that if that's their preference. This is not a back and forth. We're going back to you now, and where are we adjourned in the queue? We are at number 60. Okay, and who is that? Jessica Savage. Mayor, point of order. Point of order, okay. I've received a request to implement a progressive stack, meaning that we would prioritize voices of color in this conversation. I believe that would be possible by asking folks who are signed up to just send an email identifying themselves as such and prioritizing them in this conversation. Thank you, Councilor Tracy. We'll look into whether it's possible to do that, but it's never been to, you know, it's on the move policy change now. We've run public forums. Let's keep going while we figure out if there's any way to do that. Go ahead, Jern. Thank you. Jessica Savage, I'm enabling your microphone. Great, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, okay. Well, that was a bit of a change from what I had prepared to say, but I am not a person of color. I'm a white woman here in Burlington, resident of 13 years in Ward three, but I am going to say what I planned on saying as you figure out how to prioritize voices of color, which I highly encourage you to do. I do support the platform that has been put forward by the Racial Justice Alliance and to reference it as that. I also just wanna say that I used to say that Burlington was different and that the Burlington Police Department was different. But over the past few years, I have seen a disturbing trend towards violence towards our most vulnerable members and people of color in ways that I never thought possible here. And that's on me because the police itself is a racist institution, a violent institution. When I rewatched recently the body cam footage of what Officer Belivance did last year, completely unprovoked, it really turned my stomach all over again and made me realize that I cannot be silent anymore about our own police department here in Burlington. At a bare minimum, it is on the city council and the mayor and the powers that be to remove officers Coro, Campbell and Belivance. I refuse to pass, to support a city budget that includes their salaries. Again, I support the Racial Justice Alliance's platform and it is time to do, as a friend just called it, the not pretty work of what anti-racism really means. And that is gonna be hard and I support the city council and the mayor in making that happen. Be bold and listen to people of color. Black Lives Matter. Okay, next I have Constantinos. Constantinos, I'm enabling your microphone. After Constantinos, I have John Della Prescoli. Hi, my name is Constantinos. I am white. I am also an abolitionist. I believe that not only he defunded but they must be abolished completely along with other white supremacist structures like prisons for that to occur and we need entirely new systems for conflict resolution, emergency response and conceptions of justice that need to be built to a decolonize and abolish this white supremacist settler state. As a bare minimum in the immediate term to further that and the support of the racial justice alliance and to amplify the voices of other people of color, I demand a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, get all police out of schools, fire abusive officers, specifically Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance. And in addition, reinvesting communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity, staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement of a cultural empowerment community collective and not to pass a budget until these demands are met. And although this is a bare minimum and will not make up for centuries of genocide, slavery and oppression, please take this first step in building a new society that actually values and respects the humanity and autonomy of all individuals. Okay, next on my list, I have John Dele, Chris Goley, John, I'm not able to identify you. So I'm moving on to Alexis Hurley. After Alexis Hurley, we have Sam Epstein. Alexis, I'm not able to identify you. So I'm going to move on to Sam Epstein. Sam Epstein, you, I have enabled your microphone. Hi, thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Sam. I'm a white resident of Burlington. I also want to stand with an uplift the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance. And I also want to recognize the labor that black organizers have undertaken. The Burlington Police Department is an inherently racist institution as is every police department across this country. Police as an institution is rooted in white supremacy and the violence and oppression of people of color. Reform is a myth and will not change this. Flying the Black Lives Matter flag above city hall or above the police department is meaningless without real change. And if you want to know what it means to listen to your community members of color defunding the police is it. In building towards a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy, we demand a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellamance. In addition, reinvesting in communities of color, establishing an office of equal opportunity, staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, funding the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partnering with people of color led businesses and community to implement the cultural empowerment community collective. We ask that you do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Black Lives Matter, I yield my time. Okay, next in the queue, we have Jane Garfinkel followed by Jenna Emerson. Jane, I'm enabling your microphone. Hello. Before I moved to Burlington two years ago, people spoke about it as if it were a mecca of social justice. This is far from reality. The same concerns that people are protesting about in New York, Philadelphia, DC and across the country are relevant here. And we've heard this echoed from protesters across the state. Police are racist, violent and unequipped to engage with differently abled people and people suffering a mental health crisis. Meanwhile, the government actively protects police from being held accountable for the harm they inflict on citizens. As we saw in the recent city council resolution condemning the death of George Floyd, our standards are so low that we say thank you to cops simply for not responding to peaceful protesters with violence. What we need is to abolish the police department in Burlington and across the country. But for now, I wanna voice my support of the following demands. At least a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, the removal of police from schools, firing abusive officers and reinvesting this money in communities of color. This means establishing an office of equal opportunity, funding the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partnering with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay. Giving folks an update of where we are in the queue. Jane was number 67. So we are now moving on to Jenna Emerson and after Jenna is Lulu Guy. Jenna, I am enabling your microphone. Hi, I'm here in support of the demands stated by everyone on this call from the Racial Justice Alliance. And I hope that you are able to find ways to prioritize hearing from people of color on this call. I am a white woman and work as a health and sexuality educator at the University of Vermont and live here in Ward 2. So hi, Max Tracy, Ward 2. I work with students every day, many who are black and non-black students of color. My job is to advocate for the wellbeing of all UVM students. And defunding local police is a public health issue that needs to be addressed urgently. So I'm asking, are you Mayor Murrow and the city council willing and able to put in the hard work and the hard work of changing systems that do not serve our city such as defunding the police and reallocating those funds towards communities of color, education and social services? I really appreciate everyone on this call, the organizers and everyone listening on the city council and Mayor Murrow. So thank you so much and yeah, have a great night. Okay, so Catherine Logan is taking the place for Lulu Guy and Catherine, I am enabling your microphone. Hello, thanks so much for hearing from us tonight. I'm Kate Logan, I live in Ward 2. I am the director of programming and policy for rights and democracy in Vermont and New Hampshire. I support the demands of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance. I don't wanna use my full time. I would just like to make the further comment that our state motto is freedom and unity. I think it's clear to all of us who are on this call tonight that we ourselves cannot experience either freedom or unity until we address the pandemic of white supremacy in the United States. And I believe along with most of the people on the call tonight as well, that policing as a means for protecting business property and residential property first through forcing slaves to enact their roles and forcing in the North workers to continue to work on unregulated job sites is that's the legacy of policing in the United States. We know that there are other options for community safety that are available to us. And I urge you not to pass the budget until the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance have been met. Thank you. Okay, next I have Lily Johnston, followed by Ryan Provost. Lily, I am enabling your microphone. Mr. Mayor. Yes, I'm Jason. I just received, I just have a point of information. I know that we're not responding to folks in this and I'm hesitant to offer this, but I did receive a clarification given that you did state pretty definitively that there was a truancy officer. I did receive a word from someone who has recently as April did receive a visit from a uniform police officer during the pandemic regarding attendance for school. So I just wanna note that I think we need to look more into that issue and see what has been actually happening. Thank you. Next person, Tracy. Happy looking at that further. This was straight from the SRO officers, but let's look into it further. As far as your other point of order, I don't wanna, people think we're ignoring that there is no, there's no way that we can implement that request from this end. If people would like to, if people would like to respond to this request for to prioritize voices from people of color, they can, you can do that. You can either withdraw your name or you can, when we get, you can ask to be put at the end of the queue and we can do it that way. That's really the only way we can handle that at this point. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Very much appreciated. And it's not even clear that we can, putting at the end will maybe logistically challenging. We can try. So people can. I appreciate any effort you're able to do. Okay, next we have Lily Johnston followed by Ryan Provost. Lily, I've enabled your microphone. Thank you. My name is Lily Johnston, she, they pronouns and I'm a white resident of Ward one. I'm on track to becoming a social worker at UVM focusing in public health here in Vermont and Black Lives Matter. Burlington must respond to the racist pandemic to the same level that it did to COVID-19. And I want to echo what has been put forward by the racial justice alliance. And so in those regards, I will yield the rest of my time and let others to continue to echo what has been put forth by the racial justice alliance. Thanks. Okay, Ryan Provost, I'm not able to identify you. Next we have Nathan Lake. Nathan, I'm enabling your microphone. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. My name is Nathan. I'm a white resident of Burlington and to save time, I would like to just also echo the demands made by the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance. And some of the demands are a 3% reduction in uniformed officers, get all police out of schools, stop using police fraternity calls and fire abusive officers, Joseph Corough, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance. And to save time, I will yield the rest of my time. Okay. Brie Kamitsky is next. Brie, I'm going to enable your microphone, Drew Brooks, you are next. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Brie Anna. My first demand would just be in future calls. We could maybe try to find a way to prioritize people of color in these calls. It's white, Vermont is such a white state that if we can get their voices heard, it would be really appreciated. I'll try to keep it short so that we can get to them. I'm echoing what the Racial Justice Alliance has put forth. I really want to stress that we need to get rid of the officers, Joseph Corough, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance. It is insanity to me that community tax dollars are going towards their salaries when they are violent towards our communities. It shows that we are not progressive. It's just insane. Thank you so much for your time and I hope we can get to more voices of color this evening. Thank you. Okay, next in the queue is Drew Brooks, followed by Joseph Giancarlo. Hi, thanks for having me. I will keep this short. My name is Drew Brooks. I identify as white and I work for UVM Medical Center. I've grown up in this area and I believe we need to make Burlington safer for communities of color by minimizing the police department's footprint. It's time to do the right thing for this grieving community. It's time to restructure the budget away from policing and criminalizing people and shifting resources towards people's basic human needs. We must shift toward health programs allowing nurses and social workers who can better respond to people's physical and mental health needs. I echo the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance which build towards a future that dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. As a bare minimum, we should not pass this budget until these demands are met. Thank you and I yield my time. Okay, I'm gonna pause for just one moment to allow for a transition of someone else running the timer. So Colin, thank you for running the timer up to this point and now we're gonna have Shannon running the timer. Thank you, Shannon. So our next speaker is Joseph Giancarlo followed by Isabelle O. Whelan. Um, Joseph, I have enabled your microphone. Thank you. Hello, I am a cisgendered white male resident of Ward 5 and Mr. Mayor, if I thought you were listening and responding to voices of color before, I wouldn't be here using up these two minutes. I moved here three years ago but wherever I had chosen to move, if not Burlington, I know that I would not have had to face the fear faced by black people that armed men with the full force of the law and white society could visit violence on me and my family without cause. Miro, you and I can never know that fear. The little that I can do is stand in solidarity with the racial justice alliance and black lives matter to demand justice. I would like to emphasize the demands for economic justice because physical safety and justice is only the beginning. Mr. Mayor and council members, we must reinvest in community of color. Starting by establishing an office of equal opportunity, staff with an equal opportunity officer with oversight of a newly formed, minority owned business city procurement program. We must fund the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. We also must partner with people of color led businesses and communities to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Further, you cannot in good conscience pass a budget until these demands are met. The racial justice alliance today sent a letter outlining these demands further and I would beseech you to look into those more seriously. With the remainder of my time, I would like to invite Mr. Mayor to join me in holding my breath as a physical reminder of the pain and fear inflicted upon black bodies still today. Thank you. Okay, the next person we have is Isabel. Isabel, I'm not able to identify you. So, the next person I have listed is Tatum Oluskowska. So Tatum, I'm enabling your microphone. Hello, my name is Tatum Oluskiewicz and I'm a white resident of Burlington, Ward 3. I'm making a plea to you along with the hundreds of others who you've heard or will hear tonight who are building toward a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. You have a tremendous amount of power to help dismantle a system that's enacted violence, trauma and murder upon our black sisters and brothers for far too long. Our demands are the following, a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, get all police out of schools, fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance. We also demand that you reinvest in communities of color and what that includes is establishing an office of equal opportunity, staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, funding the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partnering with people of color, led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. We ask that you do not pass a budget until these demands are met. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, the next person we have is James Slay. James, I'm not able to identify you. Next, we have Maddie Walker. Maddie, I've enabled your microphone. I'm going to make this quick to allow people of color to speak. I'm echoing the demands by the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Katarina Campbell followed by Lauren Faracy. Katarina, I have enabled your microphone. My name is Katarina and I am native Brazilian. Counselor Pine, Ward three is my home. Counselor Tracy, I have known and cared about you for many years. And Counselor Dang, you recently officiated the marriage of my two best friends. We speakers and counsel are inextricably in relationship with one another. You will continue to hear from us about the police budget. Allocation of funds to the police is not a sustainable investment. Those dollars compound and disproportionately exacerbate the violence, generational poverty and suffering of our citizens. Promises of reform have been used across our histories as a rhetorical tool to evade meaningful change and divestment from racism. Minneapolis city counselors who have successfully collaborated a vote to defund the police affirm that you, our counselors have undeniable agency to make the same seismic change for Burlington. Reflecting on the community council collaboration in Minneapolis, Patrice Cullors co-founder of Black Lives Matter and chair of reform LA jails shares that it must be quote how it felt when people were talking about abolishing slavery. That is because this is a divestment from slavery, a slavery created by hollow reforms that find expression through our system of police. This movement has been led by our Black kindreds and gifted organizers coordinating cross-nationally, often on their own dime with access to limited resources beyond passion and personal power. Imagine, imagine what becomes possible with your vote to reallocate these funds and empower their efficacy in our communities. Not knowing what to do next is an invalid excuse. Our community knows what to do as evidenced by the love and labor of the racial justice alliance tonight. This financial question can be quite simple. The investment is your courage and your vote for a net return of our collective freedom. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Lauren Faracy followed by Rhiannon Wiley. We're at number 81 in the list. Can you hear me? Yes. Great, thank you. My name is Ellie Faracy. I'm a resident of Burlington, Vermont. I work as a pediatrician in this community and I'm here to lift up the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance and call attention to this as an opportunity to advance health equity for our community's youth of color who are set up by this racist system to disproportionately and unnecessarily experienced poorer health outcomes throughout their lifespan. Eliminating health inequities experienced by black people in our community will require us to start over. So let's imagine the society that we want to build, rebuild, where people experiencing a crisis could be supported by a well-trained response that does not carry the violent and racist history carried by the police force. I stand in solidarity with people of color in our community and demand a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting police out of schools, stopping the use of police for truancy calls, firing abusive officers and reinvesting in communities of color. Establishing the Office of Equal Opportunity stacked with an EO officer with oversight of a newly informed minority-owned business city procurement program, funding the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partnering with people of color-led businesses and community to implement cultural empowerment community collective. And I insist that you do not pass a budget until all these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, next we have Breanne Wiley followed by Joe Altman. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. My name is Breanne Wiley. I'm an Asian-American resident of Ward 6. In Burlington, black people are subject to more than a fifth of the cases in which the Burlington Police Department used force. You know what else is more than a fifth of... You know what else is more than a fifth? The proposed budget for the Burlington Police Department. What else could we use that money to fix? Our communities, especially our communities of color face real social and economic issues that the police are not designed to fix. Police Chief Morrison said last week, you can't decrease your numbers of police officers without putting the community at risk. Well, social scientists know what the determinants of crime are and a lack of police officers is not one of them. We shouldn't let a lack of imagination stop us from making fundamental changes to our budget and social services to meet the needs of citizens and especially the needs of our citizens of color. Therefore, in solidarity with the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, I demand a 30% reduction in uniformed officers get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire the officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Bellavance, reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And I demand that you do not pass a budget until these demands are met. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Joe Altman followed by Emiliano Royde. Joe, I've enabled your microphone. Hi, my name is Joe Altman. I'm a white non-binary person who lives and teaches in Burlington, Vermont in the interest of time and in the interest of allowing black people and non-black people of color to speak sooner in this forum. I'm just gonna echo the following message. We're building toward a future that systemically dismantles all system that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. I stand in solidarity with the Racial Justice Alliance and the demands many have shared tonight. Please do not pass a budget until their demands are met. Thank you, I yield my remaining time. So Emiliano Royde is next followed by Erin Kenback. Can you guys hear me? Yeah. My name is Emiliano Royde. My great grandparents were slaves and I am a black resident of Burlington, Vermont. For the past weeks, I've watched the frustrations of my community boil over into the streets of our country and into streets all around the world. We've created a movement bringing about global awareness to our play. We've poured our suffering and struggle into the national spotlight and we've lit a fire for equality. Elected officials of Burlington, we need your help to feed and foster this new flame. I'm asking for you guys to support the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance supporting a 30% reduction in uniformed officers getting all of our police out of schools, stopping using of police fraternity calls to fire immediately abusive officers shows of Coral, Corey Campbell, Jason Bellavance. I appreciate the opportunity for us to just consolidate our demands and to move through this with pace. But our people have been struggling to be heard for hundreds of years and tonight we're going to take our goddamn time. I'd like for us to reinvest in communities of color. I'd like for us to establish an office of equal opportunity, staff with an AO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. I'd like for us to fund the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable all full operational capacity. Like for us to partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement cultural empowerment community collective. And I'd ask for not a single budget to be passed until these demands are met. Ali, you are our representation of our people inside a system that continues to fail us. And if your fellow elected officials who have never been victim of racial discrimination will bear the weight of systemic oppression we cannot hear our demands. And it falls to you to give us a chance at a tomorrow that makes a lot more sense than what we have today. Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I'd like to leave you with a quote. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Please help us. Next we have Aaron Kenback followed by Tessie Sackay and we're at number 86 in the queue. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you for taking the time to hear from us tonight. My name is Aaron Kenback and I'm a resident in Burlington, Vermont. I'd like to join my neighbors here and reiterate the statements that have been said before me. I'd like to urge for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, including Joseph Coro, Cora Campbell, Jason Bellavance. Take those resources and reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity, staff with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority-owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity, inclusion, and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. Partner with people of color, led businesses, and communities to implement the cultural empowerment community collective. And I ask that you do not pass the budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, next we have Tessie Sackay. Tessie, I'm not able to identify you. We have Vicki Stenney, followed by Grace Woodruff. Vicki and Mendyville to identify you, moving on to Grace Woodruff. Yeah. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Grace Woodruff and I echo the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance. If you wish to claim that Burlington seeks to do policing differently, a demand that you think more seriously and radically about how to keep all community members, particularly black and non-black people of color, safe. We need to defund and ultimately abolish the police. Reform will never be enough. No amount of reform will ever dismantle an inherently violent and racist institution which was built to and continues to uphold white supremacy. I demand that you do not pass a budget until the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance are met. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, next we have Amanda Calder, followed by Noah Gibbs. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Sorry, just a second. So I wanted to also echo the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance in our process for dismantling the false narrative of white supremacy. I also, I wanted to add that I work at Howard Center. I live in Manuski. For my job, I support people with developmental disabilities and I'm active in my union. I live in, many of my coworkers, clients and neighbors are people of color as well as members of my family. And this issue is very important to me. We have an opportunity to make a big difference to head our city and region in a better direction. And just like with the civil rights movement, people were concerned about going too fast. I don't think we can go too fast. I think we're ready for change and that people will come along. I also wanted to add that as the overall budget is addressed that there must not be any cuts to pay benefits or jobs for municipal workers. The budget gap should be covered by pay cuts to only high paid administrators if there need to be cuts and a progressive municipal income tax only on top earners and profitable, high profit corporations in the city should be where additional funding comes from. The wealthy are the only ones who can afford to take a pay cut during the crisis. Please support these steps to dismantle institutional racism and please do not pass a budget unless these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, next we have no against followed by Holly Greenway. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. I would like to say that a budget is a moral document and I would like to echo the demands made by the Racial Justice Alliance. We need a 30% reduction in uniformed officers getting all police out of schools. We need to fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance. We need to reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity, staffed with an equal opportunity officer with oversight from a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. Fund the racial equity, sorry, fund the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable a full, sorry, to enable full operational capacity. Partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. I want to emphasize that this is a bare minimum list of demands. This is a starting point, this is not an end point. We should be working towards abolishing the police. Right now we need to defund them at least 30%. This is a moral document. Do not pass a budget without meeting these demands. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Holly Greenleaf, followed by Christian Brebeck. Hi, my name is Holly Greenleaf. I'm a Burlington resident of Ward 2. I am calling into demand to defund and dismantle the police department and redistribute those funds to communities of color, including economic opportunities, racial, the racial equity and justice program and to all community, social services, mental health and social work, education and affordable housing instead of the police department that takes up a quarter of the city budget. This is a divestment from systemic racism and white supremacy and an investment in black, indigenous and people of color and as a result, an investment in our entire community. It starts now with this budget and starting with all of the demands from the Racial Justice Alliance. As the meeting on last Thursday, the police chief Jennifer Morrison said that if there were more community, social services to respond to the many calls the police department receives, there would not need to be as many cops. And she said that we want to be leaders in this. The logic of funding cops because there are not sufficient social services but not funding the more social services because you need to fund the cops is insanity. This needs to change now and it's time to defund not next year or the year after but right now. If you're still planning on carrying out the budget as it is, I demand you reconsider the times are changing and these demands will not go away. They will only get louder. If you truly want to be leaders in this, we need to act now to dismantle institutional racism and white supremacy by defunding the police and investing in communities in color. Put your money where your mouth is. Do not pass this budget without making these changes that over 200 people have called into demand. Let's re-envision an organization in a city that actually protects and serves every single person specifically black, indigenous and people of color. Thank you and I yield my time. Thank you. I've had a request that we have a recess. So I just want to share with the other board of finance members we'll have a recess at eight o'clock for five minutes and we'll look at that as well. Let's keep going for now. Next I have Christian Brevik. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Yeah, so my name is Christian Brevik and I'm a resident of Burlington and I just want to acknowledge the work of the Racial Justice Alliance and echo the words of those who have spoken before me. I just hope we can use this opportunity to make up the projected budget shortfall by defunding the Burlington Police Department and investing in the communities of color. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, next we have Shannon Riddle, followed by Joanne Callott. Hi, my name is Shannon Riddle and I live in Ward 8 in Burlington and I would like to voice my support for the dramatic divestment of funds from the Burlington Police Department to the reallocation of said funds into community services such as social work, addiction clinics, and mental health care. Thank you. 18. Okay, next we have Joanne Callott, followed by Rachel Repstad. Hey, can you hear me? Yes. Awesome. My name is Joanne Callott. I'm a home owner in Ward 4. I'm a small business owner and I'm a teacher at the Sustainability Academy here in Burlington. My name is Joanne Callott. I'm a teacher at the Sustainability Academy here in Burlington. Many of my students are Somali, Congolese, black and from other non-white ethnicities. I love these kids and at one point I thought Burlington was a safe and caring place for all people to live. And that's not true. I've watched the painful video in which Bella Vance horrifically beat Jeremy in the face of the pandemic. I've had rude and very belittling interactions with reporting safety concerns to our police. As an educator who has a background in stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, social psychologists have known about systematic racism within the police and within our organizations for decades. Burlington is a progressive city. We should be the leader in social justice within the U.S. We really can't continue the way things are. You guys have seen the rally. A lot of people showed up and that's during a global pandemic when a lot of people who I know wanted to be there, they couldn't for health concerns. It's at this point, it's ridiculous. I don't know what we need to do to make things change in this town. Do we have to wait until Ali Deng is assaulted or Miro's daughter is older and she's going to be a police officer? We should be seeing the injustice that is happening right now. We can't let the Burlington police force continue as it is. Get rid of Belivance, get rid of Coro, Campbell. Don't let them work in law enforcement ever again. They can't do it. Yeah, I'm agreeing with this at least 30% reduction in police force. Probably we need more reduction. We need more reduction. We need to get them out of schools and out of truancy. And as of April. They are coming to parents homes and scaring them because their kids are not showing up for online classes during a global pandemic and reallocate all the money from the police to our communities of color and provide proper community. We need to keep those services. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have Rachel Repstad followed by Matt McGrath. Hi there. Can you hear me? Yeah. Hi, my name is Rachel Repstad. I'm a resident award one. In the interest of time. I won't go on at length, but I want to echo and support the demands made by the racial justice alliance, including a 30% reduction in uniformed officers. Getting police out of schools and not using clues for a number of reasons. We need to get them out of school. We need to be imperative that we file, that we fire officers that have a history of abuse, including Joseph Crow, Cory Campbell and Jason Bella Vance. And that we use funds to reinvest in communities of colors, as have has been described in the demands made by the racial justice alliance. I'm just going to take a few seconds and just remind us. I think this is a great time as any. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to go on. I just want to take a moment and just remind everyone that. Outlines where our priorities are. And I yield the rest of my time. Okay. Next. Next, we have Matt McGrath, followed by you. Hey, this is Matt McGrath. Thanks for the time. I appreciate this conversation happening as part of the budget process. Because as folks have just mentioned, this is a. they are ties supporting each other, taking care of each other and not being violent with one another. And so that's where I stand. And to that, I stand with the folks in the Racial Justice Alliance who are calling for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, removing police from schools, stop using police for truancy calls and to fire the abusive officers of Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Bellavance. I agree with reinvesting in communities of color by establishing an Office of Equal Opportunity, Staff of the Equal Opportunity Officer with oversight, funding racial equity, inclusion and belonging and partnering with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. And I think the budget shouldn't be passed until these demands are met. I'll yield my time. Okay, next up we have you Heiss and then after you will take our five minute recess. 20 year resident in Chittenden County. And I want to express how sorry I am for what observe is happening in the entire country. I believe we are looking at systemic violence that is driven by similar training, funding and culture across the country. What we need is a non-escalation before the escalation. We need to restructure the entire system starting locally. And I asked to disband the entire police force and to hire 50% women into the active force to better represent to the community the police is serving. I need to push back against paramilitary culture and the police and not hire back police officers who desire paramilitary culture and force. And these officers can speak to them. They will say that when you talk to them. So we also need more community engagement and open dialogue. You also need to fund more non-police social services that are trained to mainly deal with mental health crises. And we need to increase police education and non-violent training to the levels of other nations. I mean, I use my time. Okay, so thank you everyone. We're gonna just take a approximately five minute break. We'll come back and we are a number where I'm listed. 98. 98, we'll come back and resume from there. Thank you, we'll be right back. Listen, we're back. We'll wait one more minute for the others to resume. Okay, so next we have Erika Johnson followed by Paul Fleckenstein. Erika, I have enabled your microphone. Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for giving me a chance to chat. My name is Erika Johnson and I'm a resident of Burlington in Ward 2. And I would just like to join the comments of the Racial Justice Alliance and I will yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Paul Fleckenstein followed by Shannon Jeralden. Paul, and I believe I've enabled your microphone. Yes. So I'm Paul Fleckenstein from the Champlain Valley Democratic Social America. And I want to start by saying I fully support the building of the Racial Justice Alliance and I want to focus on a couple of other things. First, it's been a weird trip to hear your criticism. Paul, we're having a hard time hearing you if there's a way for you to block the wind or. It's better. Is that not that? It's not great, but go ahead. Okay, I'll do my desk here. So I support these demands. So it's been a weird trip. Policing is about empowering police and expanding the damage of violence to society. And it's great to see that this trip won't work. The main thing I wanted to talk about is that we need to be clear that police unions are fake unions. Unions are working class organizations to support multiracial working class struggle against the priorities of profit and against racism. Police break strikes, unions don't. Police suppress democratic protests as we've seen. Unions don't. Unions across the world are condemning racist police violence in the US. Police fraternal organizations are circling wagons to defend the racist and capitalist status quo. So there is no need to follow contracts with unaccountable organizations. And then lastly, I think that our unity in the streets and in disruption are our strengths. And this is what has made the defunding police and refunding our community seem possible and what it will likely be necessary to win it. So if I could have just 10 more seconds since I had some problems there, I just wanna announce one thing. There's a rally of Burlington City unions with dozens of other organizations tomorrow, 3.30 starting at Public Works to protect essential workers and fund community needs. And I think we need to chop from the top, chop from the cops and make this a key demand in resisting austerity and budget cuts and fighting racism. I'm done. Okay, next we have Shannon Jeralman followed by Nick Kavanaugh. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Good evening. My name is Shannon Jeralman. I'm a resident of Ward 2 and a queer white parent of three young children. I'd like to add my voice to the chorus of those calling to make Burlington a safer, more equitable and more just community for all by divesting from the inherently racist and violent police department and reallocating those funds to the programs that tangibly support and empower all of Burlington's residents, particularly communities of color. To that end, I voice my strong support to the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance as stated many times tonight. And I ask that you please do not pass a budget until those demands are met. Black Lives Matter, thank you. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Nick Kavanaugh followed by Jill Rudge. Hi, I'm a resident of Ward 3 here in Burlington. I'm also a co-owner of a small business in Burlington. And I'm not gonna take much time. I just want to echo the support for the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance and to say that these moments in history are very rare and we have an opportunity to really imagine a very different possibility and a brighter future for all people and Black people and people of color in our community especially. I hope we can utilize this opportunity. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, we have Jill Rudge followed by Tanya Ochre. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. I am Jill Rudge and I'm grateful to live and work in Ward 2. As a white woman, I express solidarity with the demands put forward by the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and those echoed by hundreds of our neighbors and fellow community members today. I ask that you do not pass a budget until those demands are met. I yield the rest of my time to prioritize the voices of people of color. Thank you. Okay, next we have Tanya Ochre followed by Erin Star Hughes. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, my name is Tanya Ochre. I live in Ward 1. I like many others and here to support the demands of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance. I'll keep this really short but I just want to add that as our representatives, you're here to decide how we spend our money. And I think it's really clear based on all the voices shared today throughout the week that people here want change. They want us to truly live up to the progressive reputation that what we like to say that we have. So please choose to invest in our communities, invest in new ways of creating public safety and take this opportunity to divert funds from the police. Thank you. Okay, we have Erin Star Hughes followed by Jesse Metzler. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, good evening, everyone. I want to first say thank you to the mayor and to the city counselors for going through this session and just say what an amazing tribute of civic participation this is, honestly. I agree with everything that's been said here. I want to take as little time as possible but I want to take this a step further and say that I'd like to see the city of Burlington put some significant investment into the vetting that goes on once an officer is hired. I support unions but I understand that once an officer is hired, it's very hard to remove them because of unions and therefore we need to be much more careful with the ways in which officers are hired and invest in extreme background checks as well as have a community commission that gets to sign off on new hires. This is my ask for the council. I have a personal ask for personal responsibility as a white person in this environment to disrupt the systemic racism we're all facing. I have an additional responsibility as a parent and as a parent of a black child to make sure that I'm doing everything I can to leave behind a world and a city that they will feel safe to grow and flourish in. And I know I share this responsibility with Mayor Murrow and I'm asking you to look at this from the personal effects that this has on your life, the legacy that you're gonna leave behind. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Jesse Metzler followed by Chris Barlow. Hello, my name is Jesse Metzler. I'm a straight white man, a father of two, a teacher who lives in Ward 1 of Burlington. I strongly support the demands of the racialist lines. Black Lives Matter, I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Okay, next we have Chris Barlow followed by Casey Carpenter. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. Yes, yeah. Great, my name is Chris Barlow. I'm a white resident of Burlington. I would like to echo the call for the defunding disarming and eventual abolition of the Burlington Police Department and the redirection of those resources towards communities of color and new systems of community protection that do not have histories of what violent white supremacy. Burlington is in the position to follow in the example of Minneapolis and Nashville. I believe it's our duty to prove that peaceful communities can exist with a 0% chance of police brutality or systemic racism that criminalizes poverty, addiction and mental health issues and people of color. I'm also calling for the immediate termination of Joseph Coro, Jason Belvance and Corey Campbell as well as their barring from ever being able to work as cops again. I also urge the council not to pass budget until the demands of the racial justice alliance are met. And as a final point, I'd like to say that especially after the events of the last week, anyone who continues to wear a police uniform identify themselves with or sympathize with the group responsible for the violence and other illegal and moral and racist acts across the country is no longer a good representative of the values of Burlington community. Thank you for your time tonight and please make the trust to hold yourselves accountable. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Casey Carpenter followed by Lindsay Brunner. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. Okay, great. My name is Casey Carpenter. I'm a white Burlington resident living in Ward 2 and I work in adult community mental health. I'd like to add my voice and gratitude to the many black Vermonters who've put countless hours and years of work into leading us all toward collective liberation. I'm also here to voice my support for demands to defund the police department, an institution that was born from and upholds white supremacy, which no amount of reforms will change. We're building towards a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. In solidarity with black Vermonters, I urge you to meet the demands of the racial justice alliance, which have previously been stated. Additionally, I demand that taxpayer money be diverted away from armed officers who do not have expertise in handling mental health crises and towards a robust mental health first responder team that represents the population of our city. I support the complete dismantling of the Burlington police department and encourage you counselors and mayor to proactively engage with activists of color who have been building and using alternative safety systems for decades. Thank you for your time, and I yield the rest of the point. Okay, next we have Lindsey Brunner followed by Bella Palmieri. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. Yes. Hi, I am a white woman who lives in Ward five. I would like to leave more time for people of color to speak. So I just want to echo the demands of the racial justice alliance, Black Lives Matter. Thank you. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Bella Palmieri followed by Cobalt. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. Hi, my name is Bella Palmieri. I'm a resident of Burlington, and I'm here to echo in solidarity the demands set forth by the racial justice alliance in order to build toward a future where we are all free, a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy, a future in which there are no police, but rather communities caring for and keeping each other safe. For now, unaffected immediately, we demand a 30% reduction in uniformed officers. Inclusive in that must be a removal of all police from all schools, a stop to the use of police for truancy calls and the firing of abusive officers, especially Joseph Correll, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance. We demanded that money. We redirected and reinvested in communities color by establishing an office of equal opportunity, staffed with an equal opportunity officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, funding the racial equity, inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and to partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. We demand a budget not be passed until all of these demands are met. Black Lives Matter, I yield my time. Okay, next we have Cobalt Tolbert, followed by Haley Fenn. Hi, can everyone hear me? Yeah. So of course I'd like to echo the demands made by the Racial Justice Alliance. I'm not gonna go list them. Everyone's done a great job of doing that. I'd like to add that police should be completely demilitarized and disarmed, that police unions should be abolished from their parent union organizations. While these demands should persuade you, city council members, know that they are, if they are not met, will not vote for you, will continue protesting in the streets until justice is met. This is your moment to meet our demands. If they are not met, you will face consequences. Thank you, I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Haley Fenn, followed by LeGuerros. Hello, can you all hear me? Yes. Yes, we can hear you. Hi, my name is Haley Fenn and I'm a very concerned citizen of Burlington. I'm speaking tonight in support of divesting from the Burlington Police Department. Our community is not made safer by the police, especially for a black, brown, and poor community members who so often experience police brutality. Vermont often thinks of itself as progressive and therefore some sort of exception, but we clearly are not. I want to stress the reallocation from uniformed officers to other social services, i.e., social workers, mental health services, education, healthcare, economic development, victim and domestic violence advocates. You as the city need to take your part and give our communities children the safe space to do better than those before them by getting police out of our schools. Disciplinary action triples the likelihood of contact with the juvenile justice system. Black students in Vermont are three times as likely and students with disabilities 2.5 times as likely to receive disciplinary action. Schools with police officer presence have five times as much disciplinary action as schools without. Right now, VPD pays for their president's schools and the city has full ability to defund this. Please fire these abusive police officers, Jason Bellavance, Joseph Corough and Corey Campbell. Otherwise, we'll see it as you siding with violence and prejudice against our black and brown community members. Do not pass the budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, next we have Life Leguerros followed by Elizabeth Kessler. Thanks for hearing me. My name is Life Leguerros. I work at the University of Vermont in Burlington. I go by he and pronouns. I have personally not had encounters with the police in Burlington. I'm a white man, surely that has something to do with it, the privilege thereof. I am here to support the Racial Justice Alliance, as well as my friends and community members who have been impacted negatively by the police in Burlington. I personally know people of color and black people who have experienced mistreatment by the Burlington Police Department. I have friends and family with mental illness who have been abused by police, making their conditions worse, causing years of trauma. Police departments grew historically to enforce white supremacist violence and to control labor. We no longer need police. We can bring social workers, healthcare, education, homeless solutions. And over time, that will abolish the need for police and create healthy and more humane communities that we all deserve. As others have said, we will not rest until you meet the demands that have been stated elsewhere tonight, including a reduction in uniformed officers of 30% for starters, getting police out of schools, truancy call, stopping using police for truancy calls and firing the abusive officers that have been listed elsewhere, using the savings to reinvest in communities of color. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Okay, next we have Elizabeth Kessler, followed by Blanche Montessy. No, Liz, you have to unmute yourself. There you go. Yes. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Liz Kessler and I'm a resident of Burlington and a teacher. Around Vermont and the country, Americans are rising up to protest against systemic racism baked into the police force. The Burlington Police Department is no exception. Objective data, as well as anecdotal evidence, confirms again and again that Burlington police arrest and use force against people of color at a higher rate than others. Here is some news from the past few years. A 2017 WAMC article titled study on racial profiling by Vermont police released stated that black drivers are arrested at twice the rate of white drivers. We also found that black drivers are searched at four times the rate of white drivers. A 2017 PR article titled use of force data from Burlington police reveals racial disparities overall decrease, stated people of color have a 37% higher chance of having a weapon pointed at them by police. A 2019 VT Digger article published with the title BPD disproportionately used force on black residents, new report shows. The police department of Burlington is by far the most expensive department in the Burlington city budget receiving 22% of the community's funds. To direct public funds to a police force that we know alienates, abuses, terrorizes and murders black people is to remain complicit in the gross violation of human rights in our community. Institutional violence against black people has gone on too long in Burlington and on a national level and Burlington must rise to the historic occasion. The future of Vermont depends on our government evolving to reflect the communities that it serves. Right now we must divest and please do not pass a budget until the demands of the racial justice alliance are met. Thank you. Okay, the next person we have is Blanche Montessy followed by Eli Creve. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. I just wanna say it is a privilege to be standing here virtually in solidarity with all of the black voices who are lifting their cries of grief and just trying to let this nation and this world believe that their lives matter. So I'll lead with saying black lives matter and also just reading a quote from Maya Angelou's poem on the pulse of mourning. History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived but if faced with courage need not be lived again. Lift up your eyes upon the day breaking for you. Give birth again to the dream. Take it into the palms of your hands molded into the shape of your most private need, sculpt it into the image of your most public self. Lift up your hearts each new hour, hold new chances for new beginnings. Do not be wedded forever to fear. Yoke eternally to brutishness. The horizon leads forward offering you space to place new steps of change. We have for too long been wedded to fear and brutishness in light of the systemic racism and the white supremacy that has enveloped this nation and sacrificed black lives. We have to change. This is our moment now and I stand in solidarity with the racial justice alliance and all of their demands as they seek to build a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Okay, our next speaker is Eli Kriv followed by Ren Lansky. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Awesome. My name is Eli Kriv. I live in the old north end of Burlington. I wanted to quote another epic black author in Zora Neale Hurston who writes that there are years that ask questions and years that answer. And this is a year that answers. The answer is dismantling and defunding the Burlington police department. To that end, I amplify and lift up the voices of the racial justice alliance and echo its demands and request that the council not pass a budget until those demands are met. I myself and I'm sure many of us here often wonder what we would have done during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. And we have the answer to that question right now. It is what we are doing right now. A civil rights movement is happening right now. Black history is being written right now. The mayor and the city council are writing their own legacies and the legacy for our city. Please make sure we're on the right side of history. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Ren Lansky followed by Michelle O'Donnell. I'm gonna, looks like Ren may have a technical difficulty so I'm gonna move on to the next speaker who is Michelle O'Donnell. Hi, my name is Michelle O'Donnell. I live in the Old North End and I'm here in solidarity with Black people and people of color in Burlington and everywhere demanding justice and that the end to the police violence. George Floyd's killers had a history of violence that complies against them. Stricter use of force policies will not stop the next George Floyd. They wouldn't have saved George Floyd and they will not stop Corey Campbell, Jason Belivance and Joseph Caro from killing someone else in our community. I'd like to echo the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance to immediately fire these officers, divest from the police department and divert these funds to community organizations and services to show that Burlington truly believes that Black lives matter more than the police state and white supremacy. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, our next speaker is Megan Browning followed by native Ferging. Hello, can you hear me? Yeah. Hi, my name is Megan Browning, council members and mayor, thank you for your service and for your time tonight. I want to express deep gratitude to the Black, Indigenous and people of color leaders and organizers whose work and commitment and persistence have paved the way for this moment and stand with the Racial Justice Alliance of Vermont in lifting up the following demands they have created for this committee. We are asking for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, get all police out of school, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers. We want to reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an equal opportunity officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural and empowerment community collective please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. I can imagine a world where all people feel safe and protected and held by each other in their communities. It's a world filled with joy and love and caring. Another way is possible and I urge you to imagine this world and consider the myriad of options for public safety and to use your power to help us get there. Thank you and I see the rest of my time. Okay, the next person I have is Nadab or Amy Fergang. I'm not able to identify you and our next speaker is Lauren Faracy. Lauren, I've enabled your microphone. You should be able to speak. So, you know, I think I was called on twice and I spoke earlier tonight so I'm going to yield my time. Okay. The next person we have on the queue is Catherine Wollers. Catherine, I'm unable to identify you. Next we have Evelyn Redshaw. Evelyn. Oh yes, my name is Evelyn Redshaw and I am a Burlington resident ward three. I come to you tonight demanding that no more lives be brutalized at the hands of the Burlington police and beg you to stop the funding of structures that allow for the continuation of these assaults. You folks have the power to stop the violence that is being inflicted onto your citizens. If you do not defend the Burlington police, you are telling us that you are not only okay with this violence, but you're willing to be complacent to the fact that violence is way more likely to happen to our black community members, especially those within our unhoused residents. Please use this moment to be better so that we can all come together to heal. Do not pass a budget until you have sat with the demands from people you've heard this evening. Then show us through your actions that you care. I stand in solidarity with my black community members and hope that you all will do the same. Thank you. I yield my time. Okay, we're gonna have another person do the timer. So thank you, Shan, for doing the timer for the last hour and we're now gonna have Olivia take over the timer. Okay, so the next person, it looks like Kat has identified herself. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Kat Wollers. I am a resident in Burlington and also work in Burlington. I'm a white person who goes by she, her and I am really interested why police funding was not a part of the original agenda, but I'm glad to see so many concerned residents and voters bringing it up tonight. I stand in solidarity with the Racial Justice Alliance and want to acknowledge all of the hard work that they've been doing for many years because this isn't a current issue. This is an issue that's been happening for a long, long time in Burlington and in the state of Vermont. And I ask you all to stand up and do your job and do a good job. And recognize that people are telling you what they need and they need for you to defund the police and to fire the officers who are abusive and violent to members of our community and recognize that the police rarely solve problems. They just bring a violent stop to some problems for things that they choose to see our problems. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Tyler Litwin followed by Jesse Milligan. Do you guys hear me? Yes. Great, thank you. My name is Tyler Litwin. Me and my family live in Ward 5. I would like to offer my strong support for the demands made by the Racial Justice Alliance echoed by the numerous previous speakers. A close friend of mine is a former police officer. He's a 10-year vet. I wanted to share part of a larger piece he wrote this week. He wrote, my job as a police officer required me to be a marriage counselor, a mental health crisis professional, a conflict negotiator, a social worker, a child advocate, a traffic safety expert, a sexual assault specialist, and every once in a while, a public safety officer authorized use force all after only 1,000 hours of training at police academy. The question is, did I need a gun and sweeping police powers to help the average person on an average night? The answer is no. When I was doing my best to work as a cop, I was doing mediocre work as a therapist or a social worker. My good deeds were listening to people failed by the system and trying to unite them with any crumbs of resources. The structure was currently denying them. So I'm calling for the defunding of the broken police and the reallocation of those funds into the people and services that would better serve this community. Thank you so much. Okay, next in the queue, we have Jesse Milligan followed by Ezra Steinfeld. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Hi, my name is Jesse Milligan and I'm a white resident of Burlington. I'm here to stand in solidarity with the demands put forth by the racial justice alliance and wholeheartedly support the defending of the Burlington police department. As many other community members have stated, our budget is a moral document and divesting from the BPD could result in supporting and reinvesting communities of color and crucial social services that actually promote collective public safety and wellbeing. I demand that the budget is not passed until all the demands set forth by the racial justice alliance are met. Thank you. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Ezra Steinfeld followed by Drew Sillow-Brosil. Hello. I also would like to call for the defunding and the disarming of the Burlington police department. That's all I have to say. Everyone else's words are everyone else's speaking for themselves. Thank you very much. Okay, our next speaker is Drew Sillow-Brosil followed by Maisie Wormser. Drew Sillow, I'm unable to identify you so I'm going to move on to Maisel. Following Maisel we have Dan Kirk. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. It's Maisie. Sorry. That's no problem. So I just want to say, I'm a white woman who lives in Ward 2 in Burlington. I work for a social services agency. I believe that our police force functions on a racist militaristic paradigm that is largely more of an assault to our community than a long-term support. Rather than using police, I believe that we need to focus on creating systems and resources and training staff that are capable of equitably and effectively responding to the myriad of community crises that we too often ignore or worse criminalize. Within the new systems and resources we must prioritize dismantling all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. I want to thank the Racial Justice Alliance for all of their work and for creating demands that they've created to reduce officers, to not have police be in educational settings, to not have police be dealing with truancy issues, to not have officers on staff who cannot respect the people that they are hired to ultimately serve and create better lives for. And I would also say that we must prioritize reinvesting in communities of color, establishing an office of equal opportunity with oversight through the minority-owned business city procurement program, funding racial equity inclusion and belonging, and then partnering with people of color-led businesses in community to implement cultural empowerment community collectives. And I thank you all for your time. Okay, next we have Dan Kirk followed by Alexa Gabriel. Hi there, Dan Kirk, ward three, and I'm number 146 in the queue. To quote and paraphrase Khalil Gibran Muhammad, a professor of history, race, and public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School and former director of the world's leading library and archive of global black history, quote, what's possible now is recognizing that police officers and police agencies are incapable of fixing themselves. They've never been able to do it and they've never been particularly compelled to do it. The incentives have never quite added up to be strong enough. And so the question that has to be asked is do white people in America still want the police to protect their interests over the rights, dignities, and lives of black and in too many cases, brown, indigenous, and Asian populations in this country? And quote, I'm a white person and I do not want police to protect white people's interests over the rights, dignities, and lives of black and in too many cases, brown, indigenous, and Asian populations in this country. If Burlington wants to lead in a progressive social way, we must create a city where black, indigenous, and people of color feel safe. We must address the root causes of wellbeing and suffering instead of creating arbitrary crimes to later punish. We must work toward economic justice, financial stability, safe and secure housing, and real social support safety nets. We need more jobs like social services liaisons. We need the police department to be accountable and I recommend that their budget be responsible for any claims against BPD paid by the city awarded to plaintiffs. To be honest, they may simply defund themselves if this were adopted. Beyond that, I stand with the Racial Justice Alliance demands you are elected to represent us and hundreds of us are making it clear what your constituents demand and I will reiterate your to-do list. A 30% reduction in uniformed officers cease the use of police in schools and for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Coro, Campbell, and Belivance, reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a minority-owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity, inclusion, and belonging function to enable full operation of capacity and partner with people of color led businesses and communities to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, next we have Alexa Gabriel followed by Alex Stark. Hello, my name is Alexa and I would like to agree with the Racial Justice Alliance's demands which are a 30% reduction in uniformed officers getting police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Belivance to reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority-owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity, inclusion, and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement of a cultural empowerment community collective. Please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. I am also with my partner who would like to have a few moments to speak. Hi, I would just like to echo everyone who's spoken so far. Thank you again all for listening so long to us. There's a vision here. We need to move away from police as so many people have spoken tonight. I think it's clear. These are very reasonable demands to start with to say the least. I would say they are born out of benevolence. Let's do this, guys. Let's get this done and let's keep the vision to take it further. Let's move away from police. Let's move back to healing our communities. Thank you. You're the time. Okay, the next person in the queue is Alex Stark. Alex, I'm unable to identify you. The next person in the queue is Ellie Scyte. Ellie, I am unable to. Oh, I see Eva Scyte. So let's try that. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Ellie Scyte. I'm a Burlington resident and a member of the Old North End community. I'm speaking here to echo the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance for the reallocation of the proposed 2020 Burlington Police Budget. This includes a 30% reduction in uniformed officers getting police out of schools, stopping to use police for truancy calls and firing abusive officers Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance, as well as investing in Burlington communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity, funding the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity and partnering with people of color led businesses and communities to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. In last week's budget hearing, Chief Morrison boasted that the many social services provided by the police and threatened that those services would be lost if the budget is cut. It is clear that those surfaces are not the priority of this or any police department. I want social services to be readily available to my community, but those services cannot come from armed cops. The police system exists to enforce white supremacy and we must have funded. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, the next person I have is Michael Hill followed by Alexandra Zane. Can everybody hear me? Yes. Hello. Mike, we're having trouble hearing you now. Thank you. Mike, are you still there? It was traumatic to see the lease because my five year old son asked me if a cop was going to hurt him and then asked me if a cop was going to hurt all his other little friends. So I'm very grateful to the racial justice alliance and support their demands and dismantling and getting rid of a system and a group of individuals who were founded by trapping and chasing slaves. And the first step we can take is 30% reduction in uniform officers and getting them out of schools, stopping cops from doing truancy calls, fire abusive officers like Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Belevance, as well as everything else that was echoed already. I don't think the budget should be passed unless all these other demands that were already stated are mint. While sitting on this call, I can't even describe how my body has been. I think it's been the same way every time I passed a cop cruiser. So I just want to see some change done. And I think it's a little unbearable that we're still fighting and continue to still fight even during a pandemic. I yield my time. Okay, the next person we have is Alexandra Zane followed by Olivia Godro. Alexandra, I'm unable to identify you. Olivia Godro, I have unmuted your microphones. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, okay. My name is Olivia and I'm here in solidarity with the Racial Justice Alliance to demand a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Belevance, reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement of a cultural empowerment community collective. Please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, next we have Jessica Morrison followed by Sonia Booglian-Glock. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. My name is Jessica Morrison. I'm a resident of the Old North End and I'm a nurse practitioner and as a healthcare worker in our community, I've observed a negative effects of the ongoing divestment from our citizens' abilities to meet our basic needs like healthcare, education, food and housing, all of which we're seeing amplified by the pandemic and by continuing our investment in the police and not holding them accountable for the inappropriate use of force and frankly terrorizing people of color and people with disabilities in our communities. We are making it clear where our priorities are and we need to change those priorities and be prioritizing the people that we hear about in our communities and making sure that everyone feels safe in our communities over these institutions that are hurting us and I want to echo what folks are saying about the demands from the Racial Justice Alliance. I agree with the demands of the 30% reduction. We need armed officers getting police out of schools, firing abusive officers and the demands around reinvesting in communities of color and not passing a budget until these demands are met. Thank you and I yield my time. Okay, next we have Sonia Gluck followed by Maye Gower Sloan. Hello, can you hear me? My name is Sonia and I was born and raised in Vermont in Hyde Park. I currently live in Essex and I am calling in today to voice my support for the Racial Justice Alliance demands regarding defunding the police and investing in communities of color as a resident of Essex, Vermont. I hope that Burlington will take the lead in taking steps to defund police which have perpetuated white supremacy and racism throughout Vermont's history. And so that other towns, smaller towns with smaller populations but still significant amount of our budgets going towards police departments can see that example and that we can then continue to see that pattern spread throughout the state and throughout the country. And the Black Lives Matter movement and all of the movements regarding police brutality and changing the world that we are living in today are a part of a very long process and painful history. And right now we have the opportunity to create very decisive and transformative change. Racism is deeply embedded in this country and it's going to take great effort. And I urge you as city counselors and representatives of our community and especially those of you who are white, I urge you to consider the legacy that you will leave behind and what world you'll be creating for your grandchildren and how we can change and what is actually possible. Vermont prides itself in being a progressive place and so often our obsession with that narrative undermines efforts to confront racism that exist here. Vermont is in no way. Thank you. Thank you. So next we have Maya Gower Sloan followed by Mary Collette. Am I on? Yes. Awesome. I would like to begin by stating that I was present for the budget meeting and public forum last Thursday and to extend my support for the demands of the racial justice alliance and for defunding the police and holding accountability officers. Belivance, Campbell, Coro accountable for the unimaginable tragedy, their racist aggressive actions inflicted towards black members of the Burlington community. Claiming you can't punish people twice is an example of upholding white supremacy because it shows you are unwilling to hold white officers accountable for black death. Next, I would like to address the claim that by defunding and reducing the number of officers employed, a community is therefore put at greater risk. As a former Howard Center Youth Behavior Interventionist, I bore witness to the astronomical re-traumatization that happens to our community's youth when police are called during a child's mental health crisis. Defending the police's role in mental health is futile when it's clear that their presence during an escalation is most often for behavior control, not support. Shunting the child's trauma away by being intimidated by armed law enforcement is the real risk to a community because it reinforces that child's lived trauma. Fear-based mental health services are not mental health services. Not to mention the rampant history of police brutality towards black people in the mental health field, such as the shootings of Alfred Alango who was fatally shot while suffering a seizure and his sister called the police for help and Charles Kinsley, a black social worker who was non-fatally shot who up privately attempting to de-escalate his client, both of which happened in 2016 in California and Florida respectively. Why allocate more money for police than the de-escalation diversity and inclusion training they supposedly have is inconsequential compared to the racist foundation with which they are built. For our local government to be so resistant to the idea of defunding police as a means of social justice by choosing not to act on our supposed liberal beliefs only shows that this quote safe haven Vermont claims to have is fake. It shows our black and POC community members that the perceived safety is only experienced by white people. Your eight-point plan and agreement to hold police peers accountable for aggressive behaviors is the bare minimum and should not be touted as activism. By defunding the police, you will show our black and POC community members that they You're over 10. Heard valued. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, next on the list, we have Mary Colette. Mary, I'm unable to identify you. So I'm going to move on to Will Davis. Will, after Will is Brian Tingley. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. Hi, everyone. My name is Will Davis and I'm here in solidarity with those who have spoken already. I live in Ward one and I'm a social worker at a mental health and housing agency supporting folks who have experienced incarceration and or chronic homelessness and poverty. Many of the folks I work with have been cycled through the criminal justice system in ways that are detrimental to their wellbeing. And I often find myself supporting people as they navigate programming based on fear, threats and punishment rather than rehabilitation. My work experience, my education, and the testimony of many black folks has led me to the conclusion that policing as we know it does not solve social problems but rather perpetuates them for these reasons inspired by the growing movement for police and prison abolition. I'm here to echo the demands of the racial justice alliance that the city make a 30% reduction in uniformed officers. We remove police officers from schools where they don't belong. We stop using police for truancy calls and I will add for mental health calls as many have said and that the city fire the aforementioned three officers with reallocated funds. I demand the city reinvest in communities of color that we establish an office of equal opportunity that we fund the REBI to enable full operational capacity and that we partner with POC like businesses and community members to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I call on you as city leaders to enact these demands without hesitation and to make Burlington a city that leads the nation towards police abolition and the pioneering of a new public safety system free of racial bias and history. Thank you. Okay, next we have Brian Tingley followed by Kate Canelstein. Brian, I'm unable to identify you. So I'm going to move on to Kate Canelstein. Hi, can you hear me? You can, thanks. Hi everyone, good evening. As you said, my name is Kate Canelstein. I live in Ward two where I live with my family and I would simply like to echo the demands of the racial justice alliance this evening that we de-invest from the police department and invest those resources in our communities and especially in supporting communities of color in Burlington to thrive. And I will yield my time to the other speakers. Next we have Annalie Pratt followed by Julia Berberan. Hello, I'm a white social worker working in Burlington and I support the demands of the racial justice alliance and ask that you do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, next we have Julia Berberan followed by Max Van Cooper. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Julia Berberan and I've lived in Burlington for 14 years. Alongside the many others we've heard tonight, I'm here in solidarity asking you to commit to the racial justice alliance's demands to stop investing in the racist and violent police force and start investing in communities of color. We need to dismantle the systems that perpetuate the false narratives of white supremacy. And I'm grateful to the black and POC leaders in the racial justice alliance for the time, labor, and wisdom they've offered to work towards transforming our community. I urge you to please commit to their requests and do not pass a budget until the demands are met. Thank you. I see the rest of my time to others. Thank you. Okay, next we have Max Van Cooper followed by Carter Newbeezer. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. My name is Max Van Cooper. I've lived in Burlington for most of my life and I'm currently a resident of board two. In this time, there's no room for the denial of police brutality, which is part of the present and historic systematic racism within the police. And that is no different here in Burlington, a city that prides itself as aggressive. I as a trans person do not feel safer by the militarized police. And you've heard tonight that many people feel this way. This is why defunding and dismantling the police is crucial at this time. We will not rest until we see the complete abolition of the police department. I am a social worker. I think we have to ask ourselves why places like first call and street outreach are not adequately funded to hire more people to meet the demand. And believe me, when I say they are overworked and underpaid and yet a racist institution such as the police department has so much for a budget. This week we saw history be made in Minneapolis as their city council voted to dismantle their police department. We're not even asking you to join them in making history. We're asking you to take the following steps that are the bare minimum. I want to echo the racial justice alliance's demands that we heard tonight with an emphasis on a 30% reduction in uniformed officers and fire abusive officers, Joseph Corough, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance and reinvesting communities in colors. Please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you. Okay, next is Carter Newbeezer. Can you hear me? Okay. We can. Well, thank you guys so much for allowing everybody to speak and for taking the time to hear out folks. And I think there's quite a number of more folks to also speak. I wanted to briefly say I definitely support the demands of the racial justice alliance and I wanted to take the rest of my one minute and 44 seconds here just to speak a little bit about the special committee on policing that was passed when a lot of these brutal acts were brought to light. I served on that special committee for policing and I just want really to highlight for the council and for the public watching that in a lot of ways that was a committee stacked with conservatives who I don't think had a lot of interest in actual reform. And I also think it was a political tool to say, look, we did something, now we can move on. And what this kind of last few weeks have really just made very clear to me is that it was just wholly inadequate, frankly. And one of the other pieces I really just wanted to highlight quickly was when we talk about the BPD in particular, there's often this sense of, well, we're not bad here. Our officers have done a lot of good things. And as someone in recovery, I do appreciate a lot of the reforms made in the last few years around addiction and recovery with the police department. But throughout that committee, there was a clear culture from folks from the police department, from folks from the administration, not really interested in hearing the community and hearing serious reform and thinking outside the box when we approach policing reform. And in this case, I think it's pretty clear that we need to defund the police department. So I just want to say the culture that I experienced on that committee, and as someone who's pretty involved with city politics, was not one interested in reform. And certainly the new interim chief, based on her public statements, doesn't seem very interested in reform either. So it's time to defund the police department significantly. Thank you. I have been asked for an approximation of where we are on the list, or the number we are on the list. Unfortunately, I've kind of lost track because people are signing up and also withdrawing from the list, but I can give an approximation, which is we are at approximately 150 out of approximately 245 people who have signed up. So I'm gonna keep going. Ryan Clausen, you are next, followed by Lydia Kern. Hello, thank you for having me. My name is Ryan Clausen. I have been a resident of Burlington since 2007, and I would just like to echo the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance and urge you all not to pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you so much, and I will yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Lydia Kern, followed by Ryan Riddle. Hello, can you hear me? We can, go ahead. Mayor Weinberger, you said you were having a hard time reconciling defunding with the fact that you spent so much money into the Neighborhood Community Police Program, but what truly cannot be reconciled is reform being an effective response to ending police brutality. Burlington shows us this. I implore you to do everything in your power to be on the right side of history. Listen to these demands from the Racial Justice Alliance and adjust your goals to accordingly, accordingly, regardless of past efforts. Also, in last week's meeting, Chief Morrison asked the public to not focus on the past, i.e. the history of policing. On an individual and societal level, epigenetics and intergenerational trauma research show us that turning from our past perpetuates rewounding for multiple generations. The Burlington Police Force cannot be separated from their history, and their presence in our community is psychologically and physically rewounding in a brutal way, especially for black, trans, and people of color in our community. I echo and support all the specific demands previously made by the Racial Justice Alliance for building towards a future that systemically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white body supremacy. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, next we have Ryan Riddle followed by Christy Delpia. Hello, my name is Ryan and I'm a Ward 8 resident. I joined today's meeting to voice my support for the reallocation of funds currently earmarked for the Burlington Police Department towards social services and educational programming, as well as other economic development initiatives focusing on communities of color within Burlington. This is such a unique opportunity to create positive change. I sincerely hope that we do not let the moment pass us by without taking action. Thank you. Okay, next we have Christy Delpia followed by Jake Pell. Good evening, all. First, I wanna say that I am in an alliance with the Alliance. And as a state, a Northern state that supported the war to abolish slavery, we should be ashamed of ourselves. And the fact that we continue to allow these atrocities to happen to our black neighborhoods, it's ridiculous. Police are not necessary. We need to defund them completely. And we need to support all those that are being violated against. Please pass these ordinances asked by the Alliance to make this community safer and better place for those of color in our community. Thank you. Next we have Jake Pill followed by Harley Johnson. Jake, I'm unable to identify you. I'm moving on to Harley Johnson. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah. Yes, I can. I am just going to, I'll keep my time brief. I just wanted to, as a white Berlin Tony in World War II, I just wanted to also echo the support for the reforms that are being proposed. And I think it is the bare minimum of what we can do as a community to begin making Burlington a safer place for the black members of our community and the other people of color in our community. And I would encourage everyone here to not pass a budget until the demands are met. And I also want to thank everyone in the community who's joining on this call and who are still sticking around. It's wonderful to see this outpouring of solidarity. So thank you very much. And I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Henry Jamison followed by Caitlin Lajolce. Hello, can you hear me? We can, go ahead, Henry. Cool. Well, as you probably suspect, I am voicing my support for the demands that everyone else has, and that I think should be included in the budget or otherwise the budget should not be passed. I also just want to say that I think like most of our institutions or maybe all of our institutions probably have systemic racism at play within them and are counterproductive in ways that we need to address. But policing seems to me like relative to say healthcare or schooling to be a pretty simple one and the demands seem extremely reasonable. And I don't really understand how the mayor would tweet hashtag Black Lives Matter and put up the flag and everything and then not listen to these demands. So that's all I have to say. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Caitlin Lajolce followed by Mary Lacey. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, we can. I'd like to begin by addressing Mayor Weinberger. Morrell, I've noticed you've been looking down and writing for the majority of this public forum. I just sincerely hope that it's because you're taking notes and I'd like to remind you that you're an elected official and however repetitive these are the words of your constituents. With that said, in last week's budget meeting Police Chief Jennifer Morrison said about mental health services in Burlington, we are the backstop for these services. This seems like a crucial piece in the huge public outcry you're hearing to defund the police. We all know that police officers are not trained mental health workers and therefore should not be the ones doing this work. I would echo the same sentiments for the misplaced role of police officer presence in our schools. Police whose salaries come out of the budget that we as community members are demanding to defund. Disciplinary action in Vermont schools is proven to be racially biased and lead to negative outcomes. What does police presence represent in schools besides the threat of discipline? The good news is there are people trained to do mental health work that police officers in Burlington are the backstop for. We also have the information available to create nurturing and successful educational institutions that set students up regardless of race or ability for success. We have the knowledge and the tools to start rebuilding our institutions in equitable anti-racist ways. I urge those with the power to start making these structural changes not to wait any longer and to trust that educators, social workers and mental health workers will only do better at what they have been trained to do when given the increase in resources that they so desperately need. To conclude, I do stand in solidarity with the racial justice alliance and their demands. And really quickly we'd just like to urge anyone still on this call to continue to reiterate these demands by calling the mayor's office and Governor Phil Scott, thank you. Thank you, Kaylin. And again, this is, it's impossible in these forums to hear from everybody and have a lot of back and forth, but I hate to think my, what I'm doing here is being misunderstood. I did say at the beginning of this, I do take notes during these public forums when it's in person, it's clear that's what's going on. I've got about 30 pages of notes. This helps me stay focused on what people are saying to do that. So it's certainly not met anything other than that. With that, let's keep going there. Okay, next we have Mary Lacey followed by Muggaboo Thierry. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead, Mary. I'm here in support of the racial justice alliance demands and the black organizers who created them. I do, please do not pass a budget without them. As you know, these demands include firing Jason Bell of Ants, Joseph Carroll and Corey Campbell. Do not say you can't because of the police union contract. Demand to reopen the police union contract. Just one year ago, you said it was impossible to take down the everyone loves a parade mural because of a contract and because of the legalities associated with that contract. But with the reshifting of council members in this last March election, it suddenly became possible to do just that. Personally, I feel confused by this, though I'm super grateful that murals coming down. But my confusion doesn't let me trust you. You're doing everything in your power right now to remove these three cops from the Burlington police department. Please do more on this front besides feigning powerlessness on this. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Thierry Muggaboo and they are followed by Reena Lockhart. Good evening, good evening or good night at this point. So the name is Thierry Muggaboo, William Yee Ma now. Can you hear me okay? Yes, we can hear you, go ahead. So your little faint, if you can turn up your volume now a little bit. Okay, how's that? Better? Much better actually, yes. Okay, thank you so much. All right, so my name is Thierry Muggaboo, William Yee Ma now. I live in the south end of Burlington, mark five, I'm a public school teacher and happened to be the only black teacher in fact that Winozki, a district that has more than 52% students of color. So I want to, Henry Jemison mentioned how, mentioned that all institutions that were built in the image of whiteness in America embody white supremacy. And like many people have reiterated, these are reasonable requests that hopefully speak to larger systemic changes, right? If we can envision a safer, healthier community without coercive force, we can start to imagine a better community. So I am as well calling in solidarity with the Russia Justice Alliance that we're making these demands in order to build towards the future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the forced narrative of white supremacy. And so these demands are 30% reduction in uniformed officers, starting with removing police officers from schools. They really have no business there. We can call them when we need them to have the police stop making the truancy calls and to fire the abusive police officers that have been mentioned on this call. And to take that money and invest it in communities of color, since I only have so little time, I'll just reiterate, reinvest it in the ways that have been mentioned on all these calls. So I think everyone for showing up today, I really deeply appreciate it. Please let's not pass the budget until these demands are met. Thank you so much. Okay, next we have Reena Lockhart followed by Andrea Coles. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Yes, we can. Hi, my name is Reena Lockhart. My pronouns are they, them. I am a trans person of color of North African descent in Ward three. Just weeks ago, we voted to take down the everyone loves a parade mural. I wonder, was it just vanity or did we really mean it? Do we stand by the demands of the racial justice alliance? Because I do. Looking at the Burlington city website today, I noticed some ironies in the police data. Just looking at 2019, for instance, there are 5,500 cases in 2019. Only 400 of them, I would say require actual police force or what you would call today a police officer. That is just 14% of the total incidents in 2019. Ironically, the cases that are listed, the categories that are listed at the top of that data are things like domestic assault, actually all kinds of assault, burglary, the things that you would maybe consider some sort of armed person you might need to have there. The other thousands of cases, majority of them are mental health related, noise related, 1,000 of the 5,500 were noise related. I would hardly consider for most of these cases that you would actually need police officers or that police officers would be best equipped to handle those cases. Many of those things are ordinance incidents that's parking, that's not something that you really need an armed police officer for, domestic disturbances, do you really need a police officer to let's say help a family get along? I don't think so. And I don't think police need to be around for overdoses. I think trained professionals need to be there for overdoses. So if you actually look at the data, we spend almost 17 million a year on the police department in Burlington. And in comparison, about 5% of that, relatively the restorative justice program is only about 5% of that cost, 670,000. So 16 million, almost 17 million. So you could have 25 restorative justice programs with that money. I don't see the time we're going so I'm wondering how much time I have. But I wanna just say the people when rightly and fully trusted will return the trust. I'll let you figure out who said that. I return my time. Thank you. The next person we have in the queue is Andrea Coles. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, you can, go ahead. Hi, my name is Andrea Coles. I live in Ward 5 and I just moved to Burlington right before the pandemic started. I want to say I feel like it is my responsibility in these times as a white person to use my voice and my time to uplift the voices and the activism of communities of color and the work that black organizers have been doing. Right now, if you do not listen to the demands of black activists and pass the demands of the racial justice alliance, you are being racist. It is time to acknowledge that being complicit in white supremacy is racism, even if you are not overtly thinking of yourself in that way. The police force in our country has its history in racism and white supremacy. Its history is in slave patrols and looking at the disproportionate incarceration of black and brown people in this country and the fact that prison labor is acceptable under the 13th amendment. It is clear that these violent white supremacist ideologies are part of the force and cannot be removed. It is therefore, we must at a bare minimum meet the demands of the racial justice alliance and we must look towards the future of fully defunding and abolishing the police to build healthier, safer communities. Thank you. Okay, next in the queue, we have Walter Keady. Walter, I'm not able to identify you. Next we have Claire Nevins, followed by Marla Thomas. Hi, my name is Claire Nevins. I'm a resident in Ward 3 and I just wanted to say my opinion that I support the racial justice alliance and all the demands that they're making tonight. And as a resident of Burlington, I believe that every person here deserves the right to live a fulfilled, safe and supportive life. Thank you. Okay, next we have Marla Thomas, followed by Jess Noss. Marla, we should be able to hear you. Can you hear me now? Yes, you can, go ahead. Awesome, thank you so much. I am Marla Thomas and I live here in the Old North End. Hi, I'm a white woman and I do have a black husband and black children and I'm here in support tonight to hopefully build a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of the white supremacy. The demands I stand with are like those of the people who've spoken ahead of me, a 30% reduction in uniformed officers to get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Belivance, and then reinvest in our communities of color instead to establish an office of equal opportunity staffed with EO officers, with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement of a cultural empowerment community collective. And I ask that the budget does not get passed until these demands are met and would like to share that my family has experienced racism from this establishment on a regular basis. And I really hope that you listen to the voices of today because we need you to do this so that there can be change. Thank you and I yield my time. Okay, next we have Jess Voss followed by Aiden Warhol. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can, go ahead. All right, first of all, it's Voss, B as in Victor O, S as in Sam, not Noss. Second of all, I would like to reiterate the statements made by my friend Henry prior in this hall. Maro, you tweeted that the Black Lives Matter flag is flying in front of the city hall, quote, to inspire us to do better, unquote. Here's one way you can start. Listen to the Black members of our community when they ask you to use your power and privilege to make a material change. You've thus far failed to meet a single one of the demands that the Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington has put forward, the purse of which is to take away the publicly funded salaries of Belivance, Carrow and Campbell. Belivance, Carrow and Campbell are collectively paid over $200,000 a year. Buying these officers and leaving their positions vacant would free up nearly a quarter of a million dollars to be reallocated to social programs that need funding. Before we talk about cutting any other program from the budget, their salary should be the first to go. In addition to these demands, I stand with others in the community in demanding a 30% reduction in uniformed officers. Leave the vacant positions vacant. We demand that funds be reinvested in communities of color in Burlington. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. You have over 200 members of the community and it seems to be growing as we continue on into the night that are trying to speak to you about this. And this is only a portion of the larger group of people that see this as a major concern. We would like to see what are you doing to meet the demands of your community? Ultimately, there's a $17 million solution to your budget problem and defunding the police department. Enough performing, we demand action. Fire Belivance, Carrow and Campbell and defund the Burlington Police Department. Thank you. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Aiden Warhol followed by Zelda Farris. Can you hear me? Yes, you can, go ahead. Hi, Aiden Warhol. I'm a white man living in Burlington. I'm standing in the polydairy with the racial justice clients and I fully support their demands. A budget must not be passed until their demands are met. Please listen. Thank you. I yield my time. Okay, the next person I have is Zelda Farris. Zelda, I'm not able to identify you. So next I have Katelyn Crivs followed by Samantha Dupont. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, you can, go ahead, Katelyn. Hi, my name is Katelyn Criv. I'm a white member of the LGBTQ community. My transgender husband and I moved to Burlington from Texas so that we could raise our children in a safer, more progressive place. But none of us are safe until people of color are safe. The Burlington Police have shown themselves to be no better than the violent racist police in Dallas. We teach our kids that violence isn't the answer, but every day they see the police using violence to solve so-called problems. And in the case of officers Coro, Campbell and Belivance using violence without provocation and without consequence towards people of color, I echo the demands of the racial justice alliance and demand the eventual dismantling of the police. When a building is infested with termites and falling apart and endangering the people it's supposed to protect, you don't just get rid of the termites and call it a day. You demolish the structure, salvage what you can and start again. Black lives matter. That shouldn't be a revelation, but apparently it is. Fire those officers, remove police from schools and invest in the black community. Do not pass a budget without meeting these demands. I yield my time. Okay, next in the queue we have Samantha Dupont followed by Rebecca McCroon. Samantha, I'm not able to identify you. So I'm moving on to Rebecca McBroom. McBroom, sorry. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, you can. Go ahead, Rebecca. Okay. Hi, everyone. I would just like to echo what all the other speakers have said tonight. I think you've heard four hours of commentary tonight. So obviously your community is speaking to you. And along to echo everyone else's thoughts, I would just like to say that there is no other arena in this country that is as institutionally and systematically racist as the police paramilitary structure in the United States. Since they were formed in the 1800s, their job has been to hunt down escaped slaves and returning them to oppression, to go on to enforce Jim Crow and desegregation in the 1960s of arresting, harassing and killing protesters. And what do we see now in 2020? We're seeing the same thing. We have peaceful protesters out there. We have African Americans in communities being lynched by police. It's enough. We've had enough of this. Polices are not there to protect people. They're there to protect capital and they're killing innocent civilians. I request that you defund the Burlington Police Department and you move the funds away from that department towards other resources. Invest in your communities, invest in your communities of color, invest in social services. That's where money needs to go. There is no reforming police departments. Police departments in this country are inherently racist and always have been. There is no way to divorce our history from where we stand today and nothing is more apparent than what is happening in this country. I am outraged, I am infuriated to live in this country and to see the way the African Americans are treated after 400 years. We have not progressed. We have not gone forward. We have seen enough. And we are calling on you because Burlington is no better. This is not something that only happens in the South. This is not something that only happens where Republicans are in office. This is happening in places where Democrats are in office. Look at Minneapolis. Minneapolis has a Democrat mayor and a Democratic governor. This is happening across the country and everyone needs to take responsibility. You need to wrap up, Rebecca. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next we have Sam Schuster, followed by Alex Escaja. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead, Tim. Hi, my name is Sam Schuster. I'm the white man living in the Old North End. I want to stand in solidarity with the demands from the racial justice alliance, in particular a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting all police out of schools, stop using the police for any kind of truancy call, and firing the abusive officer as Joseph Caro, Corey Campbell, and Jason Bellopants. I want to add something in regard to these officers. I mean, obviously no system-wide change will come from just firing these three. Rather, it should be the policy that any officers who commit acts of excessive force or in any way abuse their power should be immediately fired. The officer murdered George Floyd at 18 instances of excessive force. We should have been fired long ago. Police should be abolished, but as long as they're around, they should be held to the absolute highest standard. I believe we need to reinvest in communities of color. We need to establish an equal opportunity office, staff with an EO officer with an oversight of a newly formed, minority-owned business city procurement program. We need to fund the racial equity, inclusion, and belonging function to enable full operational capacity. We need to partner with people of color-led businesses and communities to implement a full cultural empowerment community collective. I also want to demand, like so many other folks tonight, that the police should be defunded and that their duties should be taken over by people who are qualified and trained to handle those situations. There are many studies to show that outcomes are worse when police officers get involved in mental health crises and other crises. They often worsen domestic violence cases and too often they're the abusers themselves. Remember the data shows 40% of police officers are domestic abusers. You all recognize the harm that ignoring the science around vaccines and climate change causes. So we're just asking you to use that same logic to trust the data and the experts which show that outcomes are improved when people in crises are helped by professionals, not police. These funds should be redirected from the police to the experts who are better capable to help. We demand that you do not pass a budget until these demands are met. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Alex Escaja followed by Ari Coulter. Hi, can you hear me? She can't, go ahead. My name is Alex, I live in Ward 2 and it is clear that violence is a fundamental value in our American culture. Violence is a normalized and rationalized sickness here. This is apparent in our investments as we consistently prioritize sources of violence and terror over human services and aid, including the extreme amount of money we spend on our military, prisons and police. This is incomparable to anywhere else in the world. Defunding the police and reallocating that money to care and social services, including those that specifically support black communities is not a radical statement, it is common sense. It is basic human care and Vermont can do better. If Vermont is truly the progressive state that we'd like to say it is, we can accomplish these previously stated bare minimum demands by the Racial Justice Alliance, Black Lives Matter, thank you very much. Okay, so next we have Ari Coulter followed by Charlotte Broadbent. Ari Kotler, pardon me. Hi, can everybody hear me? We hear you, Ari, you're a little distorted. Try it again. Is this any better? That's much better. Okay, so first I just want to endorse the Racial Justice Alliance's demands and thank all of the activists, particularly activists of color who have put so much effort into organizing this. I want to just add on to some points that have already been made several times. What a lot of you on the council and in the city government think of as crime is well understood to be individual responses to oppressive social conditions. So if you're concerned about crime, then you need to address those social conditions. The function of the police is to maintain oppressive social conditions. This is clear and well understood in the social sciences. It's systemic and although police culture is full of white supremacism, it has nothing to do with culture and no amount of retraining or reeducation is going to change that. So if you're concerned about crime and you're concerned about social conditions, then you need to abolish the police. And if you're looking for alternatives, all you need to do is listen to communities of black and indigenous and other colonized people who have been telling you what the alternatives are for many, many years. You need to decide now whether you want to be an abolitionist or whether you want to be a white supremacist. The least you could do is pass a budget that includes these demands. And if you don't, we will organize and we will vote you out and you will never, ever win another election again. Thank you. I yield the rest of my time. Okay, next we have Charlotte Broadbent followed by Erin Barnaby. So we have climate emergency on the agenda tonight. And I want to make a connection I haven't heard yet. Defunding the police is actually good climate policy. Without correcting the systemic injustice of white supremacy, climate change work will only address the symptoms and not root causes. With that, I'm here to amplify the Racial Justice Alliance's demands for a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, starting with firing abusive officers, Joseph Correll, Corey Campbell, and Jason Belivance. I'm getting all police out of schools and stop using police for truancy calls. Reinvesting in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program. Funding the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to full operational capacity and partnering with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I urge you to not pass a budget until these demands are met. Also, Church Street Marketplace is listed as a sponsor of the Burlington Police Officers Association. And I'm curious to know what's up with that. Any tax page support should instead be given to communities of color. I yield my time. Okay, next we have Aaron Barnaby followed by Martha Carpenter. Hi everybody. Let me pull up my stuff here. Hello everyone, my name is Aaron Barnaby and I'm a member of the Champlain Valley Democratic Socialists. I live in Ward one. Thank you all for listening this evening. I'm here today to ask you to reevaluate the budget to follow the racial justice alliance's demands. A 30% reduction of uniformed officers police no longer used for truancy calls, fire the abusive officers, get officers out of schools and cut 30. Oh, I already said that. But and cut 30% of uniformed officers gonna restate it. And we must reinvest these funds into communities of color. So right now I'm asking you to listen to your citizens and make a change. You have the power to do it. The Burlington Police Department has had numerous issues this past year and prior years. And yet Burlington Police Department uses more than 20% of Burlington's general fund budget. And the budget for the police salaries is projected to increase this year. There is also a specialized equipment budget which ran over $100,000 in 2020. We need to transition away from police officers in our community and reinvest in communities of color. We need a budget, a city and leaders that will put justice and equity first. Thank you. Next we have Martha Carpenter followed by Noel Lagle. Can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. My name is Martha Carpenter. I am speaking on behalf of my White Household in Ward 6 which includes Amelia and Matthew. We are here in support and to echo the demands of the folks at the Racial Justice Alliance. Do not pass a budget unless these demands are met. We yield our time. Next we have Noel Lagle followed by D. Bouchard. Can you hear me? Hello? Yes, we can hear you Noel. Go ahead. Cool. First I'd like to say that I stand with the platform of demands listed by my fellow Burlington community members in solidarity with the Racial Justice Alliance. The violent actions of officers, Bellavance, Coro and Campbell and their grossly inadequate discipline from within the Burlington police apparatus shows that this department values protecting their power more than they value protection of our community. It's obvious that whatever police reforms initiatives that were touted by the mayor and the police chief in the last budget meeting have done nothing to address the fact that the police as an institution serves to entrench white supremacist, patriarchal capitalist interests and as such is wholly unqualified to truly serve our community. Not only should the aforementioned police officers be fired but the officers from this dangerous department need to be removed from schools immediately. We need to stop the criminalization of poverty, homelessness, truancy, mental illness and the bodies of people of color. Reducing uniformed officers by 30% is a necessary first step in reallocating all of the police department's funds into resources and social services that uplift communities of color. We need to immediately begin building up the infrastructure that is necessary to uplift the voices of those most vulnerable here in Burlington. Lastly, I urge that the budget not be passed until our demands are met and until our city government uses substantive action and not just words and gestures to say that black lives matter. Thank you. Okay, next we have D. Bushard followed by Maddie Larkspur. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is D. Bushard. I'm a white resident of Ward 2. I stand in support of the Racial Justice Alliance demands echoed by the folks in this meeting. Miro, would you share what you believe those demands are with the rest of my time? Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Maddie Larkspur. Maddie, I'm not able to identify you. Next, we have Jake Weisgold. Jake, I'm not able to identify you. Following that, we have Estefania Puerta. Following Estefania, we have Julia West. Hi. Can you all hear me? Yes, you can. Go ahead. I just wanted to start off with a question for all of you not to answer, but to just think about, which is when do you feel like you made a choice to believe in the police? Do you feel like you were ever actually made an active choice of belief in the police system? Or do you feel like you were born inheriting that belief system? Cause I feel like that in and of itself is a really important question as we move forward of what it means to radically reimagine our society and one that takes care of everyone and actually radically reimagine what community care looks like instead of inheriting the ills of other generations. I am a Latinx person. I think I am the first one here. And I just want to say that the police has never made me feel safe since I was a child. And I think that that is the sentiment of many people of color in Vermont and in Burlington specifically, along with echoing the demands of the racial justice alliance. I also want to encourage everyone, especially everyone at city council and the mayor to consider what the implications of ICE are also in our communities. And also on top of maybe having some sort of ordinance to not allow ICE in our communities to also think about the state police that right now are asking for assault weapons and do not have body cams. So that's another layer. So there's many layers to this. I think it's not just Burlington police department which I do think needs to be dismantled completely, but many other layers as well. There's no such thing as reforming the police. We must dismantle it and start over. And also just one last piece. I just want us to also think about why don't we just retrain all of the police officers to become social workers? They can get another career. We don't need them to do the harms of our previous generations anymore. Thank you, and I yield my time. Okay, next we have Julia West followed by Jeffrey Mayer. Hi, can you all hear me? Yes, you can, go ahead to it. Hi, I am a Burlington resident ward to a cis gendered female and I am white. I, like my predecessors, echo the demands of the racial justice alliance and support them. I would like to use the remainder of my time to remind this council that as a primarily white council or white passing council, this issue of systemic racism is our problem. White supremacy is our problem to fix. And this is our opportunity to do that. I think we often think of racism falling to the hands of black folks in our community. And while this is an effort that should be led by them and their voices, we are sick with white supremacy and this is our problem to fix. I yield my time. Next we have Jeffrey Mayer followed by Joy Cohen. Jeff, Jeff, we're not able to hear you. Oh, there you go. Can you hear me now? Yes, you can, go ahead. Thank you, sorry about that. My name is Jeff Mayer and I'm a resident here in Ward 8. I'm feeling very thankful for the opportunity to be here tonight. And I thank you all for your time and for your service. I'm here to join so many of my fellow community members in voicing my support for the demands of the racial justice alliance. These demands should be viewed in my opinion as a bare minimum starting point for our city in a committed process of divesting from systems of violence and reinvesting in systems of support. As the finance committee, you have a unique opportunity to redefine what matters to Burlington. Currently, we are a community that still pays at least three abusive police officers. We are a community that relies on police for mental health crises and cases of domestic and sexual violence. We are a community that still pays police officers to walk the halls of our schools. We are a community that lacks sufficient affordable housing. We are a community ill-prepared to support people experiencing homelessness. These are just a few examples of problems in our city that disproportionately affect black and brown people. For far too long, this city has kicked the can down the road when it comes to making tangible steps towards making our community a safe and just place for black people and people of color. In this moment, in this country, in this state, this has to be the time to put neoliberal economic theory on the back burner in favor of boldly and progressively investing in our community. Thank you, I yield my time. Okay, we're coming up on 10 o'clock here. I've had a request for a recess and I wanna let the board and the public know when we get to 10 o'clock, we'll take another short recess. Go ahead, Jeremy. Next, we have Joy Cohen, followed by Dane Duffy. Can you hear me? Yes, you can, Joy, go ahead. Hello, I'm a white resident of ward two and I want to echo my full support for the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance that have been expressed. I share my voice in support of defunding the Burlington Police Department. It is important to understand the history of the police culture in this country. Isaac Bryan, the director of UCLA's Black Policy Center reminds us that, quote, law enforcement in the South began as slave patrol, a team of vigilantes hired to recapture escaped slaves. Then when slavery was abolished, police enforced Jim Crow laws, even the most minor infractions. And today, police disproportionately use force against black people and black people are more likely to be arrested in sentence. That history is ingrained in our law enforcement. Close quote. Even in the extremely white state of Vermont, blacks are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated. So are people struggling with mental health issues and addictions. I'd like you to join me in reimagining what public safety looks like. Imagine if we reallocate the funds to support people and services in marginalized communities. Those dollars can be put back into social services, mental health, domestic violence and homelessness among others. Police are often the first responders to all of these when they are neither trained well enough nor come from a culture that is based in compassion, anti-racist, culturally competent and trauma-informed community building. Imagine if those dollars are used instead to fund such things as housing, food and comprehensive mental health outreach services, livable wages and racial equity. All of the things we know increase safety in our community and do not perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. I urge you to look at the history and evidence-based studies of police ineffectiveness and use our funds to create a new model of public safety that actually keeps all members of our community safe while dismantling the police legacy and culture of state-sponsored violence, paramilitarism, oppression and institutional racism. Please do not pass a budget until the demands of the racial justice alliance are met. Black lives matter. Thank you. Okay, next we have Dona Duffy, followed by Anna. Dona or Dane, I'm not able to identify you. Next we have Anna Isaacson and following Anna, we have Brian Mayer. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, you can, go ahead. My name is Anna Isaacson. I grew up in central Vermont. I went to UVM and now live in Ward 1. I echo all of the proposed changes put forward so far by those here in solidarity with the racial justice alliance. It's very important to me as a resident that our entire community has its needs met by the services paid for by our tax dollars. If we truly want our community to be vibrant and inclusive, we must prioritize providing essential resources to those that need them, not policing those who lack them. At a time when people are increasingly struggling to make ends meet, I find it unconscionable and frankly illogical that we would focus so much of our money and attention on policing when criminal activity is proven to be a symptom, not a cause of poverty and communities that are experiencing stress. I would like to see a significant reallocation of the police budget to social programs in service to our community, to alleviate the pain and stress felt by the most vulnerable in our community during this difficult time, but most importantly to alleviate the very real effects of racism within the institution itself. Ongoing protests against police brutality in Vermont and around the country demonstrate a severe lack in trust in the institution of militarized police, and with good reason. The immense video evidence of its excessive abuse of power against people of color and otherwise is repulsive and it's unacceptable. And this abuse of power has gone unchecked for far too long. Now more than ever we need to be thoughtful about what our values are as a community and we need to act according to those values in order to build trust and strengthen Burlington social contract. Citizens are speaking out about what's important to them. What we're asking now is that you please listen, but more importantly please act. This is not an issue that merits neutrality, this is an issue that merits taking a stand for what we want for our community. Thank you and Black Lives Matter. You got it? Okay, next we have Brian Mayer and after Brian we will take our recess. Hi, can you hear me okay? Yes we can, go ahead. Thank you. Good evening and thank you all for listening. My name is Brian Mayer and I live in Ward 5. As a white person I want to thank the Black organizers who've led this movement for decades and who've had to literally put their bodies on the line. I'm speaking out today to voice my support for defunding and dismantling the Burlington Police Department. We cannot police our way out of systemic racism and white supremacy because the police have had a central role in creating and perpetuating these problems. I echo the demands of the racial justice alliance and the many others who have spoken tonight to demand among other things, a 30% reduction in uniformed officers and especially removing officers from all Burlington schools. I also urge that we reinvest those funds and others in Burlington's communities of color. To continue to spend 20% of the city's general fund budget on an abusive and harmful institution is not only irresponsible spending but willful ignorance that perpetuates violence and white supremacy. Interim Police Chief Morrison said recently that quote, you can't decrease your numbers without putting the community at risk end quote, but the community is already at risk. This week you've seen the Minneapolis City Council taking a bold first step towards imagining a future without police brutality and we must do the same. This change is reasonable, it is just and it is necessary. Black Lives Matter, thank you and I yield my time. Okay, so let's pause here again. We have, we believe approximately 30 people perhaps in the queue. It's a little unclear. So we're gonna take approximately a five minute break. I think let's call this one a seven minute break and then we will come back and try to finish the follow-up. Thank you everyone, we'll be back in a minute. Let's resume, turn who we have for the next speaker. So next we have Trav Friar followed by Joey Corcoran. Okay, do you read me? Yes, go ahead Trav. Okay, sorry, I'm just coming back from the break as well. Don't worry. I have my notes on my computer and I'll come up from sleep. Let's back out, here we go. Yeah, so hi, I'm Trav, resident of the Old North End. Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for participating in this incredible new level of civic engagement. No matter what the budget comes out to be, I think this is a huge achievement. Secondly, I think we ought to defund the airport. It's not sustainable. It's way beyond time to cease reliance on fossil fuels. Once the pipe dream of electric airplanes is realized, we can open it back up. Until then we're just destroying our future by funding it. And of course I stand with the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance. It's time to defund the police. I ask that you do not pass a budget until the demands are met. That's all, thank you. Next we have Joey Corcoran. Joey, I'm unable to identify you. Next we have Rachel Siegel. And after Rachel Siegel, we have Ian McHale. Well, I use she, her pronouns. I'm a Burlington resident. Rachel, you're pretty faint. Is there something you can do to turn up? I'm sorry, let's see if this other mic works better. It's much better. Good, already better, great. So I'm Rachel Siegel. I use she, her pronouns. I'm a Burlington resident and a former city counselor. I'm on staff at the Peace and Justice Center and I'm speaking on behalf of the Peace and Justice Center and also on behalf of myself as a white person who's here to amplify the voices of black folks in the community who labored to put together these demands. Moreau, last week at the finance meeting when you talked about your disappointment in 21st century policing that Obama had put forward, I shared that disappointment. And in fact, have come to find that police reforms of the past century, in fact, have all failed. That there is no reforming this really. And I have come to clearly believe in abolition and you and I, Moreau tried to reach each other this week and I hope we can continue to connect cause I wanna explain to you what abolition means to me and see if you can, you know, where we can meet on this. I think that it's a word that gets misunderstood cause people think it's just referring to what we're getting rid of, but that it's really about what we're building. That the abolitionist movements are about creating security systems that support people's needs and increase the material conditions of lives. But to do that, obviously we need money, which is why it also means defunding what we currently have that is not working. So to that end, I support the demands that were set forth by the racial justice alliance. Thank you. Okay, next we have Ian McHale followed by Maggie Graham. Hey, this is Ian, can you hear me? Yes, you can, go ahead Ian. So my name is Ian McHale. I live in Ward 1 and I've lived in Burlington for six years. I identify as a white gay male and I'm here to amplify the demands of the racial justice alliance, which include a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting all police out of schools, stopping the use of police for truancy calls, firing of the abusive officers, carrow, campbell, and bell events, use these funds to reinvest in communities of color by establishing an office of equal opportunities staffed with an equal opportunity officer who oversees the newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity and inclusion belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. I ask you not to pass the budget until these demands are met. Thank you for your time. Black lives matter. I yield the remainder of my time. Okay, next we have Maggie Graham followed by Jeannie Bartlett. All right, can you guys hear me? Yeah, Maggie, go ahead. Thank you. Hey Maggie, thanks for being here you guys and staying so late. I'm speaking as a citizen of Burlington. I live in the Old North End and as the parent of a child with significant mental health struggles who's unfortunately experienced trauma with Burlington police when they've responded during mental health crises. I'm also here as a family physician in the community. Police use of force as a public health crisis. According to an August 2019 study published in the proceedings of National Academy of Sciences over their life course, one in a thousand black men in the US can expect to be killed by police in their lives. Police violence is the sixth leading cause of death for all men in the US ages 25 to 29. I stand in solidarity with the racial justice alliance and the following demands. 30% reduction in uniformed officers get all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire the abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell, Jason Belovance, reinvest in communities of color, establish an office of equal opportunity, set up with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement the cultural empowerment community collective. Please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you for your time. Okay, next we have Jeannie Bartlett followed by James Sarfate. Hi, can you hear me? We can, go ahead. Great, thank you. My name is Jeannie Bartlett and I live in Ward 5 in the south end of Burlington. And I apologize for white explaining the necessity of defunding the police. I support all the demands of the racial justice alliance as an immediate action. And I demand a commitment to creating a support system capable of replacing the police entirely. One specific immediate demand I have in addition to those of the alliance is to stop using police for calls that really require human services. I've lived here for four years and I wasn't even aware of the existence of the Howard Center's first call program until a week ago. That program and others like it need to be empowered, advertised and fully funded to reduce unnecessary calls to police. And this is an interim measure as we work towards completely defunding the police. Fire abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance and reinvest in communities of color as laid out by the racial justice alliance. These demands are not everything that is required of us. In fact, I don't know why these demands are so moderate except that perhaps black leaders have been advised and conditioned to ask for less in hopes of getting anything at all. It's a justified strategy on their part, even if it's hugely indicative of injustice. If the demands of the racial justice alliance are all you do, that is not enough. If you are unsure what else is required or what else is possible, ask our black community organizers. They've been reimagining and recreating systems that would create freedom and unity for all of us for four centuries and they continue to today. Turn to the racial justice alliance, Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington are countless examples across the country. And you'll see that the work of reimagining community safety has been done for us. How profound it would be, but also how basic and how absolutely necessary to have institutions founded through collaboration and a belief in humanity instead of the institutions we have founded on greed, violence, and white supremacy. Thank you. Okay, next we have James Sarfate and James, I'm unable to identify you. Next we have Griffin Jones. Griffin, I'm unable to identify you. Gabriel Robbins is next, followed by Jonathan Weisbecker. Hi, can you hear me? We can't hear you, yes, just go ahead. I wanna thank black organizers for their guidance and generosity. It's clear that increased police spending and presence does not lead to community wellness. I enjoyed hearing the point that defunding the police is in fact good climate policy. And I wanna encourage you all to hear the science behind our demands, as well as the politics. As previous callers stated, defunding the police is absolutely a public health issue. I strongly support the demands that the racial justice alliance has laid out, specifically to fire officers, choral, Campbell and Belivance, and to reinvest in communities of color. I implore you to not pass a budget until the demands of the racial justice alliance are fully met. I'd also like to see increased mental health resources and affordable housing opportunities which are genuine actions towards well-being. No amount of training or reform will do. We must take the first step and defund the police. Thanks for your time. Okay, next we have Jonathan Weisbecker followed by Parker Cadwell. Looks like Jonathan Weisbecker had a technical difficulty. I'm gonna move on to Parker Cadwell. Parker, I'm unable to identify you. Next I have Scout Nofke. Scout, I am enabling your microphone. Hi, can y'all hear me? You can, go ahead and scout. Hi, my name is Scout Nofke. I'm a white person who recently moved here from Louisville where the killers of Breonna Taylor have still not been charged. But the racism I have already witnessed here is no less prevalent though it is more insidious than that which exists in the South. The existence of systemic racialized police brutality is nothing new and does not reflect what the system is broken. The system is functioning as it was built to and thus cannot be reformed, only dismantled. As such, I'm here to assert my support for the demands of the racial justice alliance and my solidarity with black folks and other people of color in our communities. I yield my time. Okay, next we have James Martucci followed by Claire Whitaker. Hi, I'd like to amplify the demands of the racial justice alliance and of course to also demand that this council not pass a budget until those very demands are met. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next we have Claire Whitaker. Claire, I'm unable to identify you. Moving on to Kate Hilliard. Kate, I'm unable to identify you. Next I have Dana Keyes Gibbons followed by Infinite Co-Closer. Hi, can you hear me? You can, go ahead Dana. Thank you. My name is Dana, I work in healthcare. I'm a resident of ward eight. I support the demands of the racial justice alliance and encourage you to take them even further as you see fit. If this concept is new to you, then welcome. And I encourage you to educate yourself about the systems we're all a part of. The police protect white supremacy and private property and rich people and not people of color. And their budget could do a world of difference if it was reinvested in communities of color and social services. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Infinite. And after Infinite is Christine Babcock. Infinite, I've prompted you to unmute. Maybe we'll come back to Infinite. I'm moving on to Christine Babcock. Christine. Hello. Hi Infinite. Hey folks. Sorry about that. I just wanna start by actually thanking Sarah George for her leadership and publicly calling for an end to funding any program in that directly supports the criminal justice or criminal legal system in Vermont. And she said that in the context of addressing domestic violence and I am grateful that a person in her position said that out loud. I'm also grateful to the folks who helped to organize this level of community engagement. I'm support of all the demands put forth by the racial justice alliance. And right now I'm looking at the city's COVID-19 website which claims that the city is boxing in the virus and we are definitely not boxing in the virus. So instead of paying for lawsuits every time there's a cop going wow, how about we respond to the COVID with the racial equity lens since the pandemic has somehow found the way to disproportionately impact black and brown folks. That is a right now immediate situation that we're in the midst of an outbreak coming from Manuski into the Old North Inn. And we really need to stop gaslighting folks around that and get on top of that. Thank you for the time. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, next in the queue we have Christine Babkar. I'm not able to identify you. Emma Sokchak. Hi, can you hear me? I can, go ahead. Great, thank you. My name is Emma Sokchak. I use she, her pronouns. I'm a white resident of Ward One. I'm here to demand the defunding of the Burlington Police Department as everyone else has been. The institution of policing in this country is fundamentally racist, violent and corrupt and it should not be allowed to continue in any way, shape or form. And I really believe that Vermont has a real opportunity to help places like Minneapolis lead America into that new era of equality and justice where we prioritize care over cops. Funding the police is an appropriate and very necessary place to start and we'll free up funds that can be invested in communities of color, equal opportunity programs, balanced and equitable public health services and so much more that we can't even touch on in this kind of public forum. Black Lives Matter and thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Okay, just give me one second. Okay, the next person that we have in the speaking order is Rowan. Elsier, Rowan, I'm able to identify you. Next we have Ari Markowitz. Ari Markowitz is followed by Catherine Goslin. Hi there, can you hear me? We can, Ari, go ahead. Hi, my name is Ari Markowitz. I use he, him pronouns and I'm a white resident of Ward 6. I would like to voice my solidarity with the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance. Burlington has the opportunity to participate in a historic shift towards community-focused models of support and safety. I urge you all to consider the power that you hold in promoting meaningful, progressive change grounded in equity and justice. Once again, I support the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance that have been echoed this evening. I urge the white mayor and city council members to listen to the members of communities of color when they tell you how to make them feel safe and supported. Do not pass a budget until these bare minimum demands are met. Thank you and I yield my time. Okay, next we have Catherine Goslin, followed by Will Gebhard. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. Hi, I'm Catherine Goslin. I am a white woman in Ward 1. Due to losing my job with COVID, I have literally nothing better to do than to call you repeatedly and demand, enlist my demands on behalf of the Racial Justice Alliance. So my demands align with them. I would like a 30% reduction in uniform police officers, have them out of school, fire the abusive officers of Joseph Corough, Corey Campbell, Jason Belivance and reinvest those funds into communities of color. I do not want to budget pass until these demands are met. I cede my time. Thank you. Okay, next we have Hannah Loso, followed by Oscar Flemmer. Can you hear me okay? We can, go ahead, Hannah. Thank you. So again, my name is Hannah. I am white and live in Ward 4 and you see her pronouns. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak this evening. Similar to what other people have said, I wanted to express my support for the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance and stand in loving solidarity with the BIPOC community in Vermont. I also want to urge for the defunding and the abolishment of the police. By religion continuing to fund the police department, we are continuing to align ourselves with a long history of vicious racism and white supremacy. I also urge us to rethink the way that we handle mental health crises. The police do not have the proper training to care for and protect people experiencing mental health crises. I know that we can create a system of safety that centers BIPOC and supports and protects all people. We must and we can do better. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Hannah. Okay, next we have Oscar Flemmer, followed by Audrey Tassie Ayer. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can, go ahead, Oscar. Hi, my name is Oscar Flemmer and I've lived in Burlington all my life. I was born at the UVM Medical Center when I was still Fletcher Allen. I grew up on North Champlain Street and currently live in Ward 3. I had a personal series of incidents last year that involved multiple emergency responders from our community. The closed family member of mine was in the middle of a manic episode and was trying to break into my home and I ended up regretting calling 911 on them. By the time the police showed up, the person had fled. One of the officers asked me information about them and after that said, well, I guess call us again if they come back. I told them the last time I'd seen them, they were wandering the streets asking passing cars for a ride to the hospital to which the officer speaking to me didn't even attempt to disguise a laugh and responded, well, I hope someone gave them a ride to the hospital. The officer speaking to me left and the two officers in tow snickered with each other about how crazy of a night had been. Not in a harmless way in a way that insinuated that my crazy really capped it off. I didn't really know what to do and these were supposed to be the professionals hired to assist and protect me. This callousness of the BPD is something denizens of the Old North and have become all too familiar with. A community which houses many of the people and families of color you represent. And in over two decades here, I've not personally seen a shift in this general attitude. So when I hear about instances of police brutality against black members in my community, like Jeremy Melly, there's no question the BPD defends racist cops. It baffles me while you feel the need to invest as much as 22% of our budget towards such a blunt racist instrument that is incapable of assisting even me the most privileged. As a lifelong member of this community, I don't think our police department remotely resembles a constructive tool to solve domestic issues and other nuanced moments of crisis in our community. Our status quo is not only impractical, but it's dangerous to the black and brown members of our community. Elevance pushed a young black man head first into a wall with zero provocation, immediately displayed attempts to cover up what he did by establishing his quote unquote, suspects ill will through coercion of white bystanders and his fellow way officers and described what he did, his words, a little shove as if it was a standard police procedure we picked up at the academy. Fire him. It's merely a defensive ploy to just say decisions have already been made and act as if your hands are tied. Fire, Belivance and Coro and Campbell. I'll spare your time is up. Also ridiculous to expect us to accept a budget that puts so much money towards the department that does not hold accountable officers. I'll spare your time, can you wrap up? I'll just regard for members of the community they protect, specifically our communities of color. Black lives matter. Okay, next we have, sorry, Audrey Tassie. Audrey, I'm not able to identify you. So we have Will Gebhard, who accidentally skipped over. So Will have enabled your microphone. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, again, go ahead, Will. Hi, my name is Will Gebhard. I'm a white male. I live in Ward two. I'm here to echo the demands set forth by the Rachel Justice Alliance and give thanks to the Black people, the people of color who have done the work to bring us to the point where we now find ourselves. I'm speaking to advocate to this board immediately begin the defunding of the police department. 17 million or 20% of the budget is a crazy amount and it is far better used elsewhere. Listening to the budget meeting last Thursday, I heard over and over again from Chief Morrison that the police were the backstop of the problems. That is the problem. Instead of asking officers with objectively limited training to be the multi-tool with which to respond to deal with a variety of situations, let's divest in the department and reinvest in corresponding services that deal directly with the issues that are instead currently tasked to armed officers. Instead of throwing over 17 million at the BPD, let's cut from that and further invest in affordable housing, schools, social services and the arts. Let's take cops out of the schools and use the money to strengthen counseling services. I mean, let's pay teachers more. Let's treat the illness and not the symptoms. It speaks to a close-minded approach last Thursday. Hearing Morrison laugh off the idea of bringing forth a budget, the 20% cut even though the board asks for that. Coming out saying that the current proposed budget is a smaller one with a 3% cut seems to fail to mention that the fiscal year 2020 budget is a 10% increase from fiscal year 19. If you're looking for some immediate cuts, again, how about firing Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jacob Bellavates that would free up to near a quarter million dollars of their salaries. They've shown a pattern of violence and it continues to drive a wedge between the trust of the community and the police department that obviously wasn't there and begin with Black Lives Matter and I yield my time. Thank you. Just to give folks a sense of where we are, we currently have 29 people remaining in the queue. Next we have DJ Cole followed by Christopher Harrell. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Go ahead, DJ. Hi, so I just would like to echo the demands that have been stated earlier and I think that the outturning tonight is proof enough that these demands should be met and the budgets should not be passed until these demands are met. Thank you very much, I yield my time. Thank you. Next we have Christopher Harrell followed by Emily Fishman. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Go ahead. Hi, my name is Chris Harrell. I am a student at the University of Vermont and a resident of Ward 8. I am very concerned for Mayor Murrow and his administration and the recent comments about defunding the police as they seem to have some misguided notion that regular people cannot do basic math. I assure you that we can. Nearly 25% of Burlingtonians live under the poverty line. That's one out of every four people yet this year there will be $17 million spent on Burlington police over 20% of the city's general fund in comparison to the 1% of that fund we will spend on community and economic development or the 3% we will spend on housing. If we as a city do not take drastic action to care for our residents during this period of economic uncertainty, there will be serious consequences on everyone. We will still not have adequately addressed the looming rent and eviction crisis. I'd also like to mention that despite constituting only 6% of the city's population, over 20% of all uses of forest were against black residents. This indicates that they are beyond reform. I second the suggestions brought forward by the Racial Justice Alliance. Finally, as a student organizer and founder of the UVM union of students, I would like to state, get these police patrols out of student neighborhoods. It is wrong disproportionately affects low income areas and endangers our students of color who are directly asking that these patrols are canceled. Listen to their voices and we would be happy to discuss better ways to control for coronavirus in our communities. Thank you and I see my time. Okay, next we have Emily Fishman. Emily, I'm not able to identify you in the queue. Next we have Elliot Tobin. Elliot, I'm not able to identify you in the queue. Next we have Ken Martell. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead, Ken. My name is Ken Martell. I live in Ward 8 and I just want to ask the board of finance to take seriously the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance. Failure on the part of our city government to hold the BPD accountable and to keep Burlingtonians safe from police violence. A few examples you're all familiar with. When Chief D'Opozzo harassed residents anonymously online, they hid this misconduct from the public for months. It had it not been for investigations by local activists and journalists, surely D'Opozzo would still be chief today. No accountability. When Officer Campbell murdered Douglas Kilburn, whom he punched repeatedly to the ground and resulting in skull fractures that led to his death three days later, no accountability. When Officer Caro assaulted Major Maybore Jock, knocking him to the ground unconscious and bleeding without announcement or instructions, no accountability. When Officer Bellavance assaulted Jeremy Millay, or sorry, yeah, Jeremy Millay. Without engaging or addressing him and without cause, punched him into a wall where he fell unconscious to the pavement and proceeded to drift in and out of consciousness, vomiting on the sidewalk, no accountability. These are just a few examples of how the Burlington Police Department operates under different rules than the rest of us. I'm asking you now to finally provide that accountability by not passing a budget until the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance are met. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Okay, next we have Rachel Smith. Rachel, I'm not able to identify you. Next we have Will Lambeck, followed by Jessica Snuck. Hello, good evening. My name is Will Lambeck. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the organization Migrant Justice, and I'm also a resident of Ward 2. Migrant Justice is a statewide human rights organization founded and led by immigrant farm workers with our central office in Burlington. We are also a member of the Racial Justice Alliance. We stand with the Alliance 100% in supporting the list of demands that you have heard tonight. We were in front of the city council a couple months ago to talk about Burlington's fair and impartial policing policy. At the time, we made an argument that the fair and impartial policing policy was failing immigrants because of loopholes that had been opened up in the wake of Trump's election that allowed for collaboration with ICE and Border Patrol. The city council listened to immigrants and supporters and bravely voted 11 to 1 to close those loopholes. Now we know this was not done lightly. The vote came over the objections of the police department which said that the measure was harmful and unnecessary. It came over the strenuous objections of the city's own legal department, which advised that the move was illegal, and it came in the face of opposition in the state's entire law enforcement apparatus, including the Attorney General's office. I'm speaking here tonight to implore you to demonstrate that same courage tonight and in the coming weeks as you divest from the police department and invest in communities of color. We know that these are not easy demands but we support them nonetheless because they are just and because they are necessary. The Burlington City Council cannot say that it supports the safety of immigrants and then fail to protect the safety of black communities. These issues are one and the same. As a worker organization, my good justice will be supporting municipal workers who are rallying and picketing tomorrow to fight back against threats of wage cuts and layoffs, particularly in a moment of falling projected revenue. It is necessary that the city divest from the police department in order to maintain funding in necessary services and workers and increase funding for communities of color. Thank you very much, Black Lives Matter. Next we have Jessica Snuck. Jessica, I'm unable to identify you. Next we have Amanda Skihan and Amanda Skihan is followed by Pilar Lopez Gomez. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead, Amanda. My name is Amanda Skihan and I'm a resident of Burlington, Vermont. I wanna show my support for the work done by the Burlington Police Department. I've lived in a number of cities and I've been consistently impressed by the professionalism of our police department. I could go further into that, but this is a finance meeting. So as we rightly consider now how to reform our society, including our police departments across the country, I beg you to act with measure. We should increase funding for mental health programs and for addiction treatment programs. There are very few beds in rehab programs and people don't think about the effects upon society. We should also be thinking about how to help people reenter society following prison terms. In addition, we should reevaluate which calls officers answer. We don't need armed police officers to answer every call, but we still need them for many calls. So as we think about powerful reforms, they will have impact, but we're not in a more perfect society yet. Crime still does exist. Just last year, this past year, Burlington has witnessed a fair share of violent crime. It will take years of community investment before we'll see the fruits of labor and reform, but to reduce the police budget now means that we're less safe now. It means delayed police response time. It also means that police officers will be responding to calls with fewer officers, even as we're asking them to use more oversight over each other and more reflection and to report excessive force. Another problem of divesting is that our department has been investing in technology to help them to de-escalate dangerous situations from a safe distance, such as the emergency response vehicle. Less money means less investment in technology to keep everyone safe. We can prioritize comprehensive criminal justice reform and social welfare without divesting from our police department. Thank you so much. Good night. Thank you. Okay, next we have Pilar Lopez-Gomez. Pilar, I'm not able to identify you. Next we have Matthew Kimball. Matthew, I'm unable to identify you. Next we have Jack Piesch. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead, Jack. My name is Jack Piesch and I am a white public middle school teacher in Vermont. The pronouns are he, him, his. I support the racial justice alliance's work to build a future that systematically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. I agree with and would like to push for all of their demands which are a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting all police out of schools, stop using police for truancy calls, fire abuse, sorry, I said it muted me. Can you hear me now? I did, I'm sorry, Jack. It was my problem here. I'm sorry. All good. Fire abusive officers, Joseph Caro, Corey Campbell, Jason Belivance, reinvest in communities of color, which means establishing an office of equal opportunity staffed with an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable able full operational capacity, partner with people of color led businesses and community to implement a cultural empowerment community collective. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. I also wanna share two short anecdotes that have bolstered my support for defunding the police department. I recently provided temporary foster care for one of my students who went into state custody in a state of insecurity and trauma. He was confronted by the threatening, violent and sensitive and non trauma responsive presence of the police. His natural and rational reaction to this terrifying situation resulted in the first step to transitioning his custody from three different respite residences in one week and ultimately temporary foster care. What a traumatizing sequence of events to happen amidst the pandemic. If the police had been defunded or abolished and there had been thoroughly funded community-based social services, my student could have engaged in restorative and therapeutic processes and might not have had to endure the additional trauma of going from new home to new home amidst a pandemic. Defund the police so all children who find themselves in similar situations might find adequate care instead of being triggered and traumatized by the threatening presence of the police. My second anecdote is short. In the hallways of my school, whenever a police officer walks down the hallway, I see my students with trauma and challenging histories shift. Their threat-sensing nervous systems become activated. They show fear and they cease to feel safe and to learn. The need for reallocation of funds from the police to community-led health efforts is an emergency. Thank you. Okay, next we have Nathan Lan-Tierry. Nathan, I'm unable to identify you. Next we have Charles Winkleman. After Charles, we have Stephanie Gomeroy. Hi, can you hear me? McKinnon, Charles, go ahead. Wonderful. I'm calling first off to show my support for the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance. I'm also calling because I don't believe oversight will work. After what happened with me where Mayor Weinberger, you lied to the public and the media regarding former Chief Del Pozos trolling, nothing changed. You had the opportunity to disarm the police. When Councillor Freeman suggested it, you had the opportunity for civilian oversight of the police when many folks like myself had suggested it, and yet you chose to go along this path. You know, at the end of the day, we do not need police. We do not need police that mace children, which if I remember correctly, Mayor Weinberger, you endorse that. We do not need police that punch disabled men in the head and kill them, which if I remember correctly, Mayor Weinberger, you endorse that. Five years ago, 150 people showed up to a city council meeting to say that Brandon Del Pozos should not become police chief. And every city councilor and the mayor ignored that. Today over 250 people have showed up tonight. I definitely hope you will listen. One last thing I just want to point out is the police department and the police union have been giving false data about how they only use force one third or two thirds of 1% of the time. But the truth is no one expects police to use force if someone's calling for something to be stolen. The truth is that the police department uses force 12% of the time when it comes to any sort of act that might reasonably require use of force. And police in Burlington pull guns on people of color, particularly black Vermonters, 40% of the time when they're using force. They are threatening people's lives. Black Vermonters lives, 40% of the time abolish the police. Okay, next we have Stephanie Gomorrah, followed by John Thompson. Can you hear me? I can, go ahead. Well, like so many others, I'm calling for the abolition of the police. And in the meantime, for a drastic defunding of the Burlington police, I urge you not to pass the budget until the racial justice alliance's demands are met. As you know, we demand an immediate rejection in uniformed officers and getting all officers out of schools. Black students make up 15% of the Burlington school district but account for 32% of suspensions and are almost three times more likely to be suspended than their white counterparts. These numbers are from a few years ago and I imagine they have not improved. They are incontruable. The school to prison pipeline is something we're obviously all familiar with. And this is literally how it happens. Get officers out of schools immediately. There was no excuse. Vermont also leads the nation in something else that's very bad and the rate of incarceration of black men. And this doesn't happen out of thin air either. It happens because black men are criminalized just for living their lives or should I say for attempting to live their lives. It happens because of policies that you in part have the power to change. So fire officers, Joseph Caro, Carl Campbell and Jason Belivance, they are violent and they are a threat to the community. You have the power to change how Burlington operates. So please, please do what you can to make the changes we're asking for and so much more and end this violence. Do what you can to end this violence. Do not pass a budget until these demands are met. We're watching you and we will be back. Thank you. Okay, next we have John Thompson. And after John Thompson, we have Leif Taranta. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead John. Thank you. Hi, I'm John Thompson. I'm a white passing male resident of Ward 3 since 2002. And I'm glad that we're at a moment today finally when our leaders are publicly acknowledging the problem of systemic racism in our community. As an example in May of 2019, some black and brown children who I care very much about and consider a family were threatened to have the police called on them on a city bus. This threat, whether by a bus driver or school teacher is essentially a death threat for children of color who know very well the danger they face when the police arrive. This is very important for white authorities and policymakers to understand. So please take a moment to understand that children of color in our community know well that they are endangered by police presence. This moment in history is an opportunity for leaders to recreate our city in a way that supports children of color and black community members. And with that, I'll echo the support for the racial justice alliance demands to please not pass a budget without drastically reducing the BPD budget and firing those three aforementioned cops and keeping cops out of schools and out of truancy calls. And I'll yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Okay, the next person on our list is Leif Taranta followed by Sheller Hinkle. Hello, is it working? Yes, go ahead, Leif. Thanks. My name is Leif Taranta. I'm a white non-binary resident of Ward 2. I'm here in solidarity with the demands of the racial justice alliance, including a reduction in uniformed officers and reinvestment in communities of color. And I want to say a very strong disagreement with the person before who said that police are necessary to keep us safe and that we should reform instead of abolish them. Police do not keep us safer. They are a safety threat to our communities as you've heard many times during this call. And furthermore, they are not necessary. Over the past weeks, I've had an honor to witness and participate in a lot of amazing community support and defense efforts around the COVID pandemic. And I've witnessed the ways that communities can take care of each other without ever needing to rely on the police. I've seen people de-escalate conflicts without ever needing to call the cops or resort to any form of violence. Money should go to people who can take care of each other, not to violent systems of oppression. And I wanted to say that the demands listed here are so necessary and then you cannot pass a budget until they are met, but that they are just the start and that so much more needs to happen. We're dealing with over 500 years of oppression, genocide, and white supremacist violence on this continent. We need to dismantle this. This means police and prison abolition and reparations and so much more. So start with these demands and keep going. Many thanks to black organizers who have created these demands and done so much work. Black Lives Matter, I yield my time. Thank you. Okay, next we have Sheller Hinkle followed by Phillip Foy. Good evening, my name's Sheller. Can you hear me? Yes, you can. Go ahead. Great. Hi, my name's Sheller. I'm a cisgendered queer female living in Ward 2. My pronouns are she, her, hers. I wanna first say to the black people that are participating tonight, thank you both for your leadership, for your patience and kindly and patiently, respectfully communicating to white people over and over again, our flaws here. And I'm sorry it's taken us so long to really stand with you. To the council, letting officers who have ignored policy, injured, humiliated and killed people, off with a minor slap on the wrist is corruption, it's nepotism, it's white supremacy. Systems of power will not change voluntarily or will not voluntarily give up their power. Slave owners didn't give up their slaves, they had to be forced to. Black, sorry, men did not voluntarily let women vote, they had to be forced to. This is not going to change if we continue the same system. Reforms are not enough. The system itself will not change. Being on par with other communities is not sufficient. We need to take the steps to take care of all Vermonters. Derek Chauvin had, I think it was 17 or 18 complaints. Karl, Campbell and Belivance clearly have already committed atrocities, yet they are out there with guns and with knees ready to kill the next person. Lack of accountability for these people is a slap in the face to black people. Giving the same funding and expecting a change is foolish. If you refuse to demand change right now, it's only because it benefits us as white people. Please do not pass the budget until the stated demands are met. Police aggression is not protection. White silence is white violence, but also white inaction is white violence. Saying the black lives matter and doing nothing is insufficient. As Martin Luther King said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The lives of our black neighbors are at risk. Please make a change now. We next have Phillip Boyd followed by Molly Schneider. Hi, my name is Phillip Boyd and I'm a white cis male from Ward 5. I support the Racial Justice Alliance demands and the reallocation of funds to services that are more desperately needed by other social support systems throughout Barlington. You don't hire a plumber to fix your car, so don't task untrained police officers with being health care workers, social workers, support staff for schools, et cetera. Life lives matter, thank you. I yield my time. Thank you, Phil. We next have Molly Schneider followed by Drusilla Rosley. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, you can Molly, go ahead. I first wanna echo everything that was said before me. So many people have said and made such amazing and powerful statements, except for that blonde white lady that came on and somehow had her camera on. I think you guys all understand that she does not agree with any of the things that were said tonight and she was wrong and the police can not be reformed. They need to be defunded. I stand with the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and their demands. What you're seeing here is our community coming together before you to demand that we take better care of our Black Vermonters and community. It's the least we can do. I think it's important that we all think about what side of history we wanna be on. And specifically at this moment, you, our council members, are important pieces in taking us forward. It's not a matter of if our country will defund the police, it's when. Be leaders, you guys can help this movement. And Mero, if you don't wanna shouting the already stated demands outside your office and home, you will not pass the budget until they are met. I yield my time. Next we have Drew Silla Rosely followed by Jamie Gay. Can you hear me? Yes, you can, go ahead. Great, hi, thank you so much for this. My name is Drew Restley and I'm a white woman living in Burlington. I stand with the Racial Justice Alliance in demanding that the council not pass a budget until all of the Alliance demands stated already in this forum have been met. White supremacy is the delusion that makes it seem difficult for people with power in government institutions to pass budgets and set policies that would uphold the basic dignity of our own neighbors and that make it possible to keep officers, Joseph Caro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bella Vance on salary after their displays of brutality against our community members of color. Burlington City Council has an opportunity to take accountability for having made continued investments in a failing system of public safety that disproportionately polices and harms people of color in Vermont by reallocating resources through a process designed and led by people of color to strategies and services that actually promote safety, justice and well-being. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next we have Jamie Gay followed by Tim Boos. Good evening, this is Jamie Gay. I am a white non-binary resident in Ward 5. I echo the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance and I am grateful for their work in putting them forth. I echo the prioritization of specialized counselors to attend the cases of domestic violence and mental illness, not armed police on train for such situations. These investigators identified in the Racial Justice Alliance's demands to communities of colors. I amplify and add that this funding not only be protected, that there also be a plan made for minimum annual funding increases, never funding cuts. I insist on oversight by those passionately involved in the process, not just handed a set of instructions to fill out. Further, I support deep and broad integration of local black community leaders in achieving these next steps, not as unpaid advisors, but as justly compensated expert consultants. Please do not pass a budget until these demands are met. Thank you for your time. I yield the rest of line. Thank you. Okay, next we have Tim Woos followed by Courtney Ray Forty. Hi, can you hear me? We can, go ahead. Great. First of all, I wanna thank all of you for being here and listening. My name is Tim Woos, I live in Ward 2. I also wanna thank all the black organizers who have worked so hard to put together these demands. And I'm calling to voice my support for the racial justice alliance in support of all their demands. I also believe that firing the officers is a great first step, but it's not enough. And they should also be charged and tried in a court of law. I also am curious about a statement from TJ Donovan as to why he chose not to prosecute. And I also want to just ask, this is how we say what we want through talks like this and through elections. And if our demands aren't met, I just wanna pose a somewhat rhetorical question of what are we supposed to do? Thank you, I yield my time. Thank you. Okay, our next speaker is Courtney Ray Forty. Courtney, I'm not able to identify you. Next we have Kate Kelly. Kate, I'm not able to identify you. Next we have Jesse Gustafson and following Jesse Gustafson, we have John Weisbecker. Can you hear me? Yes, you can, Jesse, go ahead. Okay, hi, my name is Jesse Gustafson and I grew up in Burlington. I just wanna start by acknowledging that the horrific violence and racism of the police, specifically against black people is well documented. It has been since their inception when they were created to preserve the institution of slavery. We all know this and here we are having to appeal to you to defund an institution that sanctions the murder of black people. I'm voicing my support of all of racial justice alliance's demands in investing in communities of color, a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, removing officers from school and firing Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bella Vance. The police are a danger to black people, indigenous people, people of color, people living in poverty, people experiencing mental health crises, immigrants, unhoused people and many more. Our community is strong and will only be made much stronger without the police. Thank you. Okay, next we have John Weisbecker. John, I'm unable to identify you. Next we have Avery Rasmussen. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, you can, go ahead. So my name's Avery Rasmussen. I use she, her pronouns and I'm a cis white woman and a six year resident of board one. As a public health graduate student and public health professional in the community, I wanna start by saying I am confident that police are not the solution to a single public health problem. I implore you to immediately halt increased patrols of student neighborhoods in the Burlington community. And along with hundreds of my fellow community members, I unequivocally support the demands of the Racial Justice Alliance and defunding and abolishing the police. We are building towards a future that systemically, systematically, there we go, dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy. Demands include a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, getting all police out of schools, stopping the use of police for truanty calls, firing abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Belivance, reinvesting in communities of color, establishing an office of equal opportunity, staffed by an EO officer with oversight of a newly formed minority owned business city procurement program, fund the racial equity inclusion and belonging function to enable able full operational capacity. Partner with people of color led businesses and communities to implement cultural empowerment community collective, not pass this budget and police demands are met. I yield the reminder of my time. Thank you. So next we have Caroline Hauser, followed by Colby Taylor. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, you can, Caroline, go ahead. Hi, my name is Caroline Hauser. I'm a white cis female, I live in Ward six. I'm calling to, like so many others on this call, stand for the racial justice alliance and demanding that the city council not pass a budget until all of the racial justice alliance's demands are met. I stand by them in building towards a future that systemically dismantles all systems that perpetuate the false narrative of white supremacy, including a 30% reduction in uniformed officers, the firing of abusive officers, Joseph Coro, Corey Campbell and Jason Bellavance, reinvestment in communities of color. And again, I ask that you not pass a budget until these demands are met. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Thank you, Caroline. Next we have Colby Taylor, followed by Griffin Jones. Hi, can you all hear me? We can, go ahead. Okay, this is Colby Taylor. Ultimately, I am calling for the abolition of the Burlington Police Department. For now, I'm calling for the demands of the racial justice alliance be met. Reduce the police force by minimum of 30%. We are calling for this because we recognize that the police are far past the point of no return. They could not be reformed at this point. They must be replaced by organizations that were not created to kidnap slaves who ran away, but that were created with the deep belief of Black Lives Matter. I call you to reinvest all of that money into incredible programs imagined and proposed by Black people in our community. Thank you, I yield the rest of my time. Thank you. Hey, the next and final speaker is Griffin Jones. Hey, can you hear me? Yes, again, go ahead, Griffin. Great. First of all, I wanna thank all of the organizers with the Racial Justice Alliance for putting together these demands and organizing this incredible turnout. I am gonna add my voice to the supporters of all of their demands that you've heard maybe 250 times tonight. And I just wanna ask a question for the council. How much more time is it gonna take for you to listen to these demands and actually take them to heart and turn them into meaningful action? Because I'm sure you have more meetings, more public questions, and I'm sure people will keep turning out until we start seeing some action. So yeah, I am looking forward to seeing some action based on the Racial Justice Alliance's demands. And yeah, have a good night. Thank you, good night to you. Okay, Jordan, thank you. And all the members of the city team that helped facilitate that. And thank you for everyone who participated. That was remarkable. As orders of magnitude larger, I believe in any public forum that the Board of Finances had before, and I think longer and more participation, I believe in any city council. Public forum. So thank you, everyone involved. And I see my colleagues are all still here too, and I know we're all listening hard throughout that. And this is a remarkable, terrible moment in our country's history, but also one where it does seem that change and reevaluation, how we go forward, is happening. And thank you for participating in that tonight. That concludes item two of our agenda. And I would, I don't believe we can make a lot of progress with the remainder of the agenda tonight. We, without other members of the city team. So I would welcome thoughts from the Board and how you'd like to proceed if you, what is item three on the agenda, even if it's fine. What's that? I believe it's the climate budget. It's the climate budget. If the Board would like to move forward, I was going to present the climate budget. If people would like to have discussion of that, we are prepared to do that. I would need a short recess to get that in front of me. I would also support, has other thoughts on how we go forward if I would welcome a motion to, I think it is an agenda that I believe the council wants to hear from the administration on this agenda before a budget is submitted. We are planning another budget session on Wednesday and either now or after the climate budget, that's another way that we could go here is we can have a motion to recess this meeting until 5.30 on Wednesday, when we would pick up the agenda. And I think we would need to add to the agenda that night as well. Councilor Paul. Thank you. Just wanted to know what is, I don't see the an agenda for the June 10th meeting yet on board docs. So perhaps you could just let us know what you had planned for that other than my understanding is the CEDAW budget, but there probably are a few more things. Yeah, it was the, my understanding, you know, my recollection of Catherine's plan was, yes, it was a CEDAW budget. And I think there are one or two more enterprise funds that we're not planned for tonight that were planned for Wednesday. So wastewater and wastewater? That's right. Councilor Kahn. Given the hour and the considerable testimony we have and pages and pages of notes here, I am, I've reached my limit. I hope folks understand, but as far as continuing this meeting tonight, I think I would propose that we adjourn for the night and reconvene on Wednesday. We could adjourn, we could recess with this the agenda since we haven't gotten to the majority agenda. So those are the two choices. I think the board does not want to go forward. Then recess is the proper motion actually move to recess and reconvene on the, on Wednesday and take up the agenda then. Okay, is there a second for that motion? I second. Thank you, Councilor Chang. Further discussion? Okay, we'll go to vote on that motion then. All those in favor of the motion and that is a motion to recess until 530 on Wednesday. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, my colleagues here. And I know many of our other colleagues on the city council and those who are present on this call as well. And let me say once again, thank you to everyone who participated tonight in this pretty remarkable public forum and demonstration of democracy using this technology that we haven't used before and in some ways perhaps it enabled, we haven't used before this pandemic, perhaps it, I'll bring more people together tonight then. So thank you again, everyone. And we'll see you again on Wednesday at 530. Thank you. Bye. You're adjourned at 11.17 p.m.