 Welcome to the P3 show. My name is Romeo von Herman and our show begins today with town meeting day. It has been a historic town meeting day that we've had this past Tuesday and boy oh boy a lot of things happen. It was very very invigorating, very lively. A lot of people showed up but before I begin on that I want to thank fellow Berlingtonians all residents who took part of this past town meeting day. It has been an incredible town meeting day and our show will be based on today about town meeting day being the first show of the P3 show which means the people power politics. Why did we launch this show? It is because we need to provide or at least want to make sure that a voice where a community can talk is provided through this show and discuss what matters to the city, what matters to the residents, what matters to citizens of Burlington, the lawmakers, the decision makers, businesses as well as everybody who calls Burlington home. One of the key reasons why we're launching this show is to make sure that you have a voice and that you're able to see some of the key issues that are discussed. So at the top of the hour what we're going to be focusing on again as I said at the beginning will be town meeting day and how democracy worked and the level of participation. This past town meeting day was a very historic one. We had two women that were running our first female mayor elect and of course we do have, we did have rather two men that participated in this past election, a mayoral election. We had an incredibly amazing city council runs as well both incumbent and new city councilors that were running. So it was a fantastic to say the least and I went to the polls myself. I was at a war two and war three polling station, a boy oh boy, I was there from 8 a.m. to nearly 6.30, 6.45 just close to 7 so it was an all-day affair at the polling station. Insofar as to say that this is going to have a long-term consequences for our city and all the stuff that we have done up to town meeting day and what are some of the key issues that were discussed and what will be what the both the council the new mayor elect what they're going to be doing upon being sworn in on April 1st this year during the organization meeting day at the town, the city council. That being said a lot has happened this town meeting day that just passed. There are a lot of key issues that were on the ballot including just the new folks that were being elected. There were a lot of budget school budget that were on the ballot. There were also a tax increase that was on the ballot as well including public safety related tax increase. So there was a lot of key important issues but what does that mean overall to citizens of Burlington? What does the just the ability to exercise and go out there and vote and have your say and put your vote as it were behind a specific ballot that was incredibly very very important to your fellow residents, the decision-makers who are the city council, business owners who do invest here in the city, folks who are unhoused in our city, who are seeing what is happening that is on the ballot, folks who are suffering from very serious chronic if not disorder as it were, substance abuse disorder, drug disorders and other key issues that are happening in the city. How did that fare during the town meeting day? Now again during the next show one month from today so to speak I will have guests hopefully joining me to discuss more about town meeting day but more importantly to kind of go in depth as it were on what that meant to fellow Burlingtonians. But that being said this has been like I said early a very historic election. I have been a part of this is my second town meeting day that I've been part of as fellow Burlingtonians and I love going out there canvassing, speaking to elected folks, speaking to council members, speaking to fellow residents and just kind of listening to what do they care about the most, what does you know the issues that are on the ballot mean to them. Now our city has had a very serious public safety issue which was one of the key issues that was brought up multiple times before town meeting day and every candidate has provided their own version of what town meeting day means to them and what public safety means to them and without mentioning any names of course we we have each candidate mentioned what they will do should they be elected now that that is over and we have a new mayor-elect by the name Emma Mulvaney we are hoping that the new council plus a new mayor-elect will take a path that is very prudent and also that addresses what drove everybody as it were from what I heard is like nearly 14,000 plus people went to the polling station to make their case for a new mayor in part because they care about public safety they do care about the substance of youth disorder that is going on and just speaking in the aspect of public safety and substance of youth disorder what I notice is that a lot of folks are seeking a compassionate way to address the issue and speak to the truth while of course not rewarding bad behavior now the goal that our new mayor-elect is based on I understand I don't want to miscoat our our historic new mayor-elect the direction the mayor new mayor-elect is gonna be taking is to address the issue but in a compassionate manner which I think is very important for our city because we want to make sure that as we do address these issues that they're addressed in a prudent manner but also compassionately now that being said our city is tackling with these current issues by the way business owners have a lot of stake in what happens in our city as well during this town past meeting day and when the next new mayor is seated the new council is seated it's gonna be interesting to see what happens on the all the bills on the propositions resolutions as it were that are currently pending in the council when the new councils takes their seat on April 1st how that is gonna be taken care of and what the new mayor will be supporting and not supporting and what the new council will be supporting and not supporting mind you that we do have still a majority democratic city council as it were but of course there was a seat that was flipped by the progressives but nonetheless the democratic still Democratic Party still has a majority at the council now there are quite a number of issues that the show will focus on as it goes along in many years to come hopefully some of them being our relations to one another in the city how we treat each other the relationship with the students and the city the relationship between business and as well as the city and how the council effectively does its work so now I really want to thank first and foremost every person that came forward all the volunteers both on the Democratic Party and the Republican Party as well as the independence and everybody who participated in making democracy work the reason why I brought this show to CCTV as it says is people power and politics and ideally it is important to address the aspect of people in public service the politicking that goes on at the council and as well as what power that yields or presents itself to the general public as it were and these this was one of the key reasons why I wanted to bring the show to you so you have a say and I can share my thoughts as fellow Burlingtonians and where I again hopefully think the direction that we need to take President Obama once said that democracy more than any other form of government delivers for its citizens it's not perfect but it works and you could tell that through how time meeting they happened and how folks were invested and by the way within I would say 10 months from now we're gonna be having the I believe the district counselors that will be up for seats again next year town meeting day so the town meeting day affair is not over but it's definitely happening so now that we do have a mayor-elect Emma Mulvaney and that she is gonna be focusing on a lot on compassionate way of delivering what is important to our city as I said all the key issues that I for mentioned and as well as other minor if not what I would put it a important issues such as infrastructure issues that have been neglected for quite a while in the city so those will be great to see if the new mayor will upon of course there's different between running for office and now being elected and being actually doing the job itself so I will personally keenly be watching on what happens during the next council session as well as the new mayor takes their seat but I'm genuinely hoping that neglected sites will get addressed substance abuse disorder will get addressed and that we do not spend our time as a city as it were on issues that is completely unrelated to our city and point in case or case in point as it said during the last council session with the current council session actually meaning last year December and I believe sometime January there was the issue that is happening over in the Middle East that was brought up twice and so would the council bring that up again and now that we have a new mayor elect that is yet to be seen because anything is possible in democracy there are other contentious issues that I think galvanized very Burlingtonians such as the v-tang renewal of the lease I'd love to see more people show up at the city council meeting hopefully watch the p3 show as well as all other shows that are on CCTV but I would love to see people get more galvanized about local issues that is happening in our city and I'm hoping that the new mayor when they take their seat that they will be focusing on what is happening in the city as opposed to and our hope they will put their weight behind that the mayor puts their weight behind local issues more than issues that is happening abroad that's not to say that we do not live on the same planet that we do not we do not have issues that affecting 5,000 miles not affect us to a certain degree it does because Burlington is becoming much more shall we say a diverse place to live in and there's a lot of folks that are from Africa from Bosnia and say Latin America and of course in North America and in Asia that are here moving here to Burlington in a small increment as it were so it's becoming a little bit of what I would call a melting pot in Vermont here so that is not to put aside what is happening and have to listen to people what their concerns are but at the same time prioritizing what is happening right here our doorstep will be a very very critically important now our city council has been a very interesting dynamic setup as it were but the new council that is taking over and I've seen that there's no Republican president of the council that is not to say that you know the council that is already seated is not doing their job but I would love to see sort of a mixed council that addresses mixed issues within the city and in terms of presenting people having being at these city council meetings and listening to their counselors address these issues are incredibly important and one of the things that I've noticed when I go to the council and again the show is not about me it's about you fellow resident is that when I see these council meetings and I know sometimes it can come across a little bit boring and at the air sometimes it can extend all the way to 1 a.m. in the morning depending on what is happening is that you know it is very very critically important for citizens of residence to be there show as much support that we show during the town meeting and to show support and be there in person at the city council meetings and listen to your counselors what they're working of course you can do in a hybrid manner but at the same time having you there in person goes a long way and being actively engaged and I think some of the things that probably dissuade people from showing up in part is of course the public forum which happens which is one of my favorite part of the city council meeting is that it gives chance for people to speak up share their concerns with city councils directly but at the same time it's been so shortened that it's become a very very contentious issue but at the same time I don't want that dissuading fellow Berlin Tonians a residence not attending these all important meetings because it gives us a chance to be there and listen and speak out and you know even after the meeting connect with your counselor before the meeting connect with them talk to them don't wait until town meeting day or just election to town meeting day for your chance to either hear from your counselor or counselor who's you know a new person that is you know running for that specific seat to be there but what I'm trying to say here is that when it comes to the the power of the people is when the people are present on the issues that are happening that are being discussed at the table and in more times I've seen that people are not there in part maybe they're watching from their you know TV or computer at the comfort of their couch or their seat at home but it would be great to have them at the table as people power is incredibly important it doesn't mean that every topic that is on the council's agenda is something that you can agree on to it but what is very very important is that you are there you are present that you are listening and that you make time because most of these meeting happen after 5 p.m. all the way to say maybe 1 a.m. but in by and large is two to three hours tops and I am certain I hope most of you can make time to come in and be there and listen and this also goes to the students of our university here and a colleges that are here as well to be part of this people power and politics conversation and now let me go back to town meeting day I've like I said I was at two polling stations and I voted because I do live in Ward 6 I went to vote for the for the part of the presidential election because I've already done my local election as it were through the ballots that I got in the mail and then mail that out and at least dropped to where it's supposed to be dropped off for it to be counted in the ballot box now the presidential I went to go and vote at the polling place but but then went to Ward 2 and Ward 3 because I'm part of I sit on the Democratic Party committee team so it was very interesting to see the level of participation and how folks that were supporting different candidates and the candidate that I was supporting at the time of the the town meeting day how everybody came together and we were able to have a a cordial conversation there was no any how do you say ill will feeling us to I mean there was an incident of course an individual was passing by who flipped us off but at the end of the day me and my couple of folks who are at the polling station spoke to the individual and said you know what this is a democracy in action and bringing very ill advice behavior is not the best way to go about it this very important day and any any day for that matter but what really gave me a hope was that the fact that folks were able to come together and that we were able to stand side by side regardless of who you supported stand side by side and have a conversation about how you feel about the community and what everybody's doing or what is important to you in whatever chronological order that one wanted to talk about it and that really gave me so much hope and hence why I was so looking forward to having this show today to talk about it regarding Tom meeting day and another thing is as I said earlier there was you know it was a historic what do you call participation because of course we had our current mayor for 12 years that he was our mayor in our city but people wanted something different something new something fresh to start that's not to say that they were running away from the current mayor only to say that they wanted to start a fresh page and hence of course every time there is a mayor election that is happening it tends to be very well participated sometimes less sometimes more but more than any other what he called Tom meeting days it tends to be far more participated which is fantastic I love democracy I love participation in what is important to our city and not to rehash everything over again but what I'm hoping in that is our next Tom meeting day that when folks go and elect the next set of district counselors whether is back hopefully maybe incumbent incumbent city counselors or maybe new city counselors maybe yours truly who knows that folks end up participating as equally as they did this time around because it is important not to sit back and wait until the next mayoral election comes along or maybe presidential election comes along because continued consistent participation on what is important to our city in addressing these issues is incredibly important and when we are putting folks at office or position of public trust it is important to have as much participation as possible from every facet of our community so that being said what I would challenge you is to be able to you know in the near future show to call in to have that conversation maybe come to this show and come and talk to me and talk to fellow Berlin Tonians about what you see our city in the next 10 years next 5 years next 2 years next 3 years next 1 year or 2 years from now and so on and so forth where do you see our city you know those amount of time and what do you think can we work on now as well as in the future because there are a lot of projects that are the cities working such as great streets over on Main Street and the southern district and the Tiff district and so on and so forth and of course there are like Pearl Street the cities the road is incredibly not in good shape part of Pine Street that is still being worked on part of it is not in good shape St. Paul Street is not in good shape as well infrastructure will be a topic for that but what is important to you that I would invite you to come to the show and speak to me of course you can contact the station and you can contact me on my Instagram which is basically at my name as you see on the screen Instagram at my name and so on so I would more than happy to invite you you can email me I'm on front porch forum as well and I would love to hear from fellow Berlin Antonians this is this show is for you this is literally the first show that I'm doing I'll be doing subsequently this a specific show and I would love to see participation where folks come in like a neighborhood we talk about multiple subjects from the mayor-elect to the city council to infrastructure to substance abuse disorder to you name it a lot of stuff that is happening in our city it is a people power politics show it is about you it's about the the the power that the council has in deciding what is important because one of the key issues that happened us I do remember late last year and actually this year was that you know perringtonians collected signatures on issue they care about though no law do not local issue but nonetheless it was an issue where enough folks got signatures for it to bring before the council and it didn't pass the council in part because the council I believe through the state have a some kind of a how do you put it a an understanding that not everything can make to the ballot based on specific conditions that has to be met not just signature but specific additional conditions that need to be met so I want to get more feedback from fellow berlingtonians who participated in getting the signatures for the item ballot that didn't pass in January and what what your thought process is and would this be an issue that will come back or maybe get a signature ballot for an additional issue that you know that one hopes that it will pass at the council so I would love to invite folks to come in and express their views either of course calling in or shown up in person because this is this show is for you it's not about me it's for you it's about us as it were and would love to talk about a lot about it and of course getting back to the topic of the show town meeting day during my conversation with multiple residents as well as the folks that run for city council and the mayor mayor elects and the you know the people that run for the mayor as it were I've learned something very important and you know what I learned is that it's not important that you run but it's important what you run on what the topic that you are running on is this something that was well received was there opportunities that were missed that one could have made to the residents and of course this time we had a you know we have folks who are not US citizens who ran on local elections that I understand and have we you know the folks that were running did they make their case to the residents as what they wanted to do and so it is really very very interesting thing that I learned that it's important to get the message across in a balanced manner where the one does not come across very very polarizing but at the same time does not come across that they do not care what matters to the city what matters to residents in part because some folks were not for having people camp on public spaces and other people feel maybe a candidate or candidates as it were maybe taking very much more stricter measures when addressing public safety or substance abuse disorder or having a nail what do you call injection sites for I believe it's called safe recovery centers but some people might not see as that and and avoiding for one person and somebody might see that as some that is maybe help us with ending or maybe at least slowing down the amount of people that maybe you know using needles at public bathrooms or locations even out in the open in the public so those are the issues that I have learned personally during this passed down meeting day and I think the only thing that I could say during you know leading up to time meeting day is that it happens during very cold months of the year so and maybe that gives a little bit more you know oomph to for people to come out maybe not but it's incredible this past meeting day how things did happen and the level of enthusiasm but also as it ended there was a little bit of fatigue and I could hear some folks saying I'm glad that it's all said and done on over but but the important thing is you know that it at least it gave us a chance to be able to have our say and us being able to go out and support the candidate that we wanted to support but also after all said and done be able to turn the page and say you know what we need to come around to everybody that got elected everybody that have been given the chance to represent our city and be before us give them all the support that they need to get their job done we may not agree what they have to say during the council meetings or some of the issues that they're gonna be voting on but that is where the next town meeting day is there for so you can elect either a new person if you are happy with the existing counselors just the new slaves that have been elected to name a few if I can remember the names on top of my head ward 8 I believe we have somebody from the progressive party I don't know his name on the top of my head so I do apologize what six Beckham McKnight congratulations on being elected and you definitely deserve it you are a hard-working person and that this is a well-deserved election and thank you for coming forward and representing our ward ward 5 of course the incumbent Ben Travis congratulations on being reelected you are a champion for our city and I am very very glad that you are there for us as a city not just for ward 5 but as a city that we have a steady hand in the council and I suspect I hope I'm not wrong but I suspect you're gonna be the next council president again I'm just saying that might be the case because I have a hinge that's gonna happen now that being said of course we have Ward 4 I'm not wrong I think it might be a Sarah Carbender I hope I'm not wrong Sarah Carbender Ward 4 and yeah she's also a very solid candidate that is representing the ward and she's she's incredibly amazing and some of you may or may not agree but she is an incredible person I can't wait to see her back at the council and I look forward to listening intently what Councilor Carbender has to say I believe Ward 3 is Joe Cain I believe and I think you know Joe I got to learn a little bit of him and I think he's really a great guy wonderful things he's gonna be bringing to the council and I can't wait to see what he does for his ward but the city at large and this is very important because it doesn't matter if you are progressive or a Democrat at the end of the day you do represent the city and I'm hoping that once he comes to the council on April 1st that he will work very closely with other counselors that are in the Democratic Party or the Progressive Party and that he will counselor counselor elect as it were Joe Cain I hope I'm missing that I'm hope I'm saying the name right that will represent Ward 3 fabulously as it were now Ward 2 of course is the incumbent Jean Berkman I said his name wrong in the past I hope I didn't do that again this guy is a star he's fantastic and I think he's gonna do amazing work as he's done in the past for the city again he's the people power kind of guy and I think he's gonna do such a fantastic job and I can't wait to see council Berkman what he does again for this tenure again after April 1st after he gets re-sworn in back to his post it's gonna be fantastic I can't wait to see it he's a good man and he's gonna be representing that word fabulously now Ward 1 we do have a Carter Carter I believe and I believe he did run in the past but this time he got elected congratulations Carter well deserved and I think you've come a long way to be where you're at today and I couldn't be more grateful to have you as our city counselor for Ward 1 I don't leave a Ward 1 but congratulations to you on your win and that every counselor who's been elected needs to be welcomed irrespective of what party you're at and and I hope that as you get into and settle into this position that you would represent the voices of everybody and not just specifically Ward 1 and of course it's not a district council election this time around but it was just Ward election and the mayoral election and I would like to very importantly thank both Joan Shannon and Emma Mulvaney as well as let me not forget Chris Haseley and Will Ammons who ran for the mayoral election will run as an independent Chris is a good friend of mine ran who also sits by the way on the Church Tree Marketplace Commission which I sit on as well on the Church Tree Marketplace Commission did run as an independent candidate and Joan of course ran the Democratic Party which I'm a member of the Democratic Party and as well as Emma Mulvaney Stanek who ran in the progressive party I think everybody everybody let me say so run a very fantastic election campaign and I cannot thank enough to all the participants who were part of this all-important election and I cannot thank enough to all the volunteers who went knocking doors who made calls for every single candidate who went out of their way to do a lot of posts on front porch forum on Reddit or Facebook or Instagram you name it that is people power and this is what it this is for to be able to share and discuss how important that was not only just for me but for I'm sure for every one of you irrespective of who you supported I think this was incredibly very very very important time meeting day not to forget the president presidential election that was also happening the primaries we had you know former president Trump who was on the Democratic ticket rather sorry the Republican ticket along with Nikki Haley and I think there were others who already dropped out but they were on it as well and you had on of course on the Democratic side president Joe Biden and you had additional candidates that were running as well so in all in all I believe for our current president Joe Biden won for the Democratic ticket for the primaries for the Democratic of course side and then you had of course the Republican Nikki Haley won in our state and though she dropped out right after Super Tuesday this past March 5th 2024 presidential primaries so the presidential election will come up November 5th I believe and if the word would hold I think president former president Trump will may or may not be a you know by then running I mean he didn't win our state but nonetheless in the general election he may be end up the person that will be representing the Republican Party as things are going of course we'll probably be having a president Biden for the Democratic Party so it's gonna more or less look like 2020 presidential election that is happening and rest assured it's gonna be a year to remember this year and I did say at the top of this year during the New Year's I said this is gonna be a very what he called an inflection point year where a lot is gonna happen between then and now that will be on the history books especially in knowing that we have a very polarizing individuals that are running for the presidential election but also we did have you know during the time meeting day a to somewhat folks that were somewhat polarizing but at the same time depending on how you look at the word polarizing some folks felt one person was polarizing and the other not polarizing but I suspect that this year is gonna be some some for some folks anyway upsetting but others for a meaningful year but I will end on this that I am incredibly grateful that you have a chance to see this first show this is the first for this show and that you can participate we're gonna have in the future the phone that's gonna be showing hopefully and the at the bottom on the the banner hopefully that you'll be able to call in hopefully we'll have a dedicated you know 20 30 minutes maybe who knows where folks can call in and speak and maybe come into into into the studio with me on on that Saturday it's gonna be once a month Saturday the second Saturday of the month come into the studio with me contact me on Instagram if you can which is you know Instagram slash my full name and or you can just you know check my name on Instagram and then just send me a DM as it were and I can invite you to the show or shoot me an email and on my email as where I rather prefer that somebody contacts me on Instagram this way I know who is contacting me and I don't get unnecessary random email or spamming as it were but the long story short this is the first show I'm grateful to CCTV for having me have this show and be able to share my thoughts on time meeting day and I would love to hear from you definitely in the subsequent shows once a month the second day of every month the second Saturday rather of every month to hear what your thoughts are not only on meeting day but our city about the show about your neighborhood specifically whether you're in the south end whether you are in north end whether you are in downtown district whether you are the east district I would love to hear from you in the near future and share you know share your thoughts on everything I'll end on this thank you for watching and as I said in the past democracy is an act to be part of it people power politics is about democracy and thank you for watching and I look forward to sharing more to come in the next subsequent shows thank you and have a wonderful day