 It is a dark and dismal Saturday, today being May 23rd and our hope had been to go out on the streets and just chat with people, but I think what we're going to do instead is go into the parks around the city and see some of the progress that we're making and talk about some of our hopes for the future. This is South Park right here in the south end of Burlington and it's one of the larger parks in the city and two years ago the city put a substantial sum of money into making major renovations in this park and some of the renovations included four new tennis courts over there, six new basketball courts. We tore down what was there before and rebuilt that and that's a lot nicer than it was and we also have two new playgrounds for children. One is over there behind the warming hut and another one is over there and the Little League field continues to be used by the kids and that hasn't changed much. During the last few years we have made as a major priority in the city rebuilding our park system and I think that it's fair to say that today the Burlington parks are in better shape than they've ever been before and one of the reasons that we've done that is that we understand that in a city it's extremely important to have green space in recreational areas where people can come out and have a good time. They can play ball, watch their kids play, enjoy the playgrounds, very important for a city and I think we're doing a pretty good job in that. So this is South Park which has undergone a major reconstruction a couple of years ago is today in very nice shape. One of the other things that's very interesting is that you find that the better facilities that you have, the more people are going to come out and use them. One might start off by saying well you just have a certain number of tennis players in the city and that's just the number of people who are going to come out but in fact what you find is that when you improve the tennis courts more people gravitate to a tennis and come out and that's the same with the basketball situation. I think we have more people using the basketball facilities in the city of Burlington now as we have improved those facilities. So now also I am standing in front of an area which was just rototilled this week and there's going to be a flowerbed over here. We're planting next Saturday May 30th in a dozen different locations throughout the city some beautiful beautiful flowers all over the city and this park will be included in that project right over here and a little bit east over there in the park. So okay this is South Park this is the first park that we're visiting today and we'll see what else we can find. Now as we move a little bit northward we're finding ourselves at Perkins Peer Park High and this is a beautiful place to hang out almost any time. At sunset you're going to see one of the most beautiful sunsets in America right over there behind the Outer Andex. The most exciting developments that are taking place here is that last year we were able to remove some of the very large oil tanks that used to be in this location. There's still some up but we got rid of I believe two of them and we're able to open up this whole area here for additional park space and as you can see we have brought in looks like one two three four or five picnic tables and some benches and that is on a nice sunny day space that is very very well utilized. We're also adding have added some more moorings over here for boats and that is also going to be taken advantage of. This area is almost the central part of Burlington's downtown waterfront. It's an area that we're very proud of and that in a variety of ways we want to bring people down here as much as we can. Once again you'll notice over here that there's some rototilled soil and in this location there's going to be planted next week some very very beautiful flowers to make this area even more attractive than it is. Further last year not if you want to turn around when you get a chance we have built new parking space which kept the automobiles from coming on down here and I think that that's a major improvement so we've kept the cars over there and allow people free access to this area over here also we now have some toilet facilities in that building right behind Jerry's which I think makes the park that much better. So Perkins Pia Park is coming along very well as a result of the bond issue that was passed just this last March we're also going to be building as far as I can understand some playground facilities down here as well so for the little kids there'll be a place to play when their parents are down here so we're making some real progress on Perkins Pia. Well while we were talking I grabbed my fishing rod raced out over there threw it in and look what I came up with this is an incredible thing now actually Arnie say hello to the camera your name is Arnie Griggs okay you live in Burlington yes okay and you just when did you catch this an hour ago that is a shelter in Bay it's about to go but you're going to weigh it in the moment yep if the dog doesn't eat it first dog doesn't get it right okay and you're participating in the Long Association Derby yeah okay and what is the largest fish the what do you get for bringing in the biggest fish a hundred thousand dollars for each category well Arnie listen I a couple things I would like to chat with you about a hundred thousand dollars yeah savings bond for each category lake trout or salmon holy god that's a lot of money a lot of money your place to boat carpeting your ruin landing it is that does that have a shot to be a winner do you think I think it does it has a chance in placing the money and in the last place is one one thousand dollars so I think we've got a good chance here with this fish okay well let's go we're gonna go weigh the fish now let's go let's go all right you'll take the pieces of steel that he put inside there out right right six point eight that's the largest one you've caught largest lake trout lake trout what's the what's the winning weight so far the biggest one is a nine around nine pound lake trout and the biggest salmon so far counting the first day the seven-pound salmon and the largest lake trout is around nine pounds plus how long has the contest been going on since yesterday morning at 6 a.m. okay and when it ends at four o'clock Sunday so the largest fish caught so far is about nine pounds oh yeah that's correct how was the fishing in general this year been so far um fairly good fairly good the water's been rather cold and it's been it's been very good okay okay well good luck see you later bye bye as we remain here in Perkins Pier this is Scott Stevens who's a member of the park patrol is that what we yes okay and this was a program that was begun several years ago initiated by the Burlington Police Department and it's a very excellent program for several reasons number one what it does is it provides us with law enforcement capabilities in virtually all of the parks in the city of Burlington in the past what we used to do is contract out with private security departments in the fact that did not work out terribly well this program is working out better not only because we have people who are officially affiliated with the Burlington Police Department but we have many people young people like Scott who in fact are looking at law enforcement as a career in later years Scott how many years have you been involved in this program in three years now you're in on the very beginning of the program yes how are you enjoying it yes I am very much okay we're on some of the locations that you've been at I've worked oak ledge park letty park and patrolling the bike path for the motorcycle and I've worked here the first year quite a bit it was here okay what are some of the problems that you run into where you feel you needed sometimes motorcycles on the bike path we catch that quite a bit glass bottles the big thing in the park basically the big things that we get right that you feel that you are what I know is that people feel much much better about coming down to among other places Perkins via now with full-time patrol down here do you believe that's true yes they do do I understand that you're looking forward to a career in law enforcement yes I am eventually like within the next year I'd like to get into someplace okay full-time and you've applied among other places to the Burlington police yeah okay okay well good luck to you okay thank you very much okay I think in talking to Scott you see one of the things that we have been trying to do as a city is that not only are we trying to improve park facilities but also trying to make certain that we have better police protection down there because unless people feel secure they're not going to be utilizing the parks the truth is that the this parks patrol program has been a very successful program for relatively small amounts of money were able to hire young people do not carry they do not carry weapons but they have walkie talkies and they can bring in the regular police department at a moment's notice if it's needed but their presence here goes a long way toward the deterrent crime and I think adds a great deal more security to the park system so it's a program that's been working very well okay as we head further north in the city we find ourselves at the battery park and battery park to me is especially interesting and is especially important because of the major changes that have taken place here in the last five years the truth of the matter is that five years ago this park was a place that many families and kids did not go to because there really was a rather bad element that hung out here what we used to have is parking used to take place right over there and you used to have a lot of cars with a lot of undesirable characters and in fact there was a lot of drug dealing and some people may remember eight or ten years ago where there really was a real battle here between the Burlington Police Department and some people a very ugly scene in the modern history of the city of Burlington today the park is in better condition I think than it has been for a very very long time we have put in new playground equipment and in fact this year there'll be some additional pieces of major playground equipment brought in here furthermore they're going to be major renovations to make the park more accessible to the handicapped and other improvements are going to be taking place the goal is to make this a park for the whole city and for the old north end that people are going to come down and enjoy during the summertime on Sunday night we continue the Burlington Band concerts which have been going on for decades and in addition to that this year again will continue the Thursday night battery park concert series which brings out hundreds if not thousands of people on a given Thursday night depending upon who's performing so what we're seeing here is a park which has undergone major improvements which are part of the whole revitalization and improvement of the old north end it's a park now I think that people enjoy a lot of positive activity and that will continue to see more improvements the major improvement again scheduled for this park this construction season making it more accessible to the handicapped more playground facilities and equipment for the kids so this this is a project that we're very proud of we've made some real real progress here your name is Stan Brady Stan how you doing okay Stan lives on hunger for tears yep okay and I see is that your daughter daughter Jessica hi Jessica how you doing so what are your thoughts well it's that kind of a gray clammy day but it's still nice to come out and be here I hearing what you were saying before I agree you know largely but I do feel that it was too bad that some of the which to some people were quote-unquote undesirable elements don't have a place as that they can go as well and some of the behavior was inappropriate but I'm not sure if we quite needed to close the place down as in the in the manner that we did maybe that was necessary to make things a little less gruffy but I'd like to think that we could have a part that had room for both the neat and some of the less neat elements so to speak I think it wasn't the question of neat and non-need obviously the park is free and it's open to anybody who wants to come in yes that's true it is and it always will be the question is that we had a situation where there wasn't a question of one neat it really was not how people dress but it was a question of intimidating other people from utilizing the facility and that was what the it was it was uncomfortable I have been here you remember yeah I've been in town for oh since half about the last 17 years yeah and you know it's you raise an interesting point and there's not a simple answer on one hand one wants to make certain that all facilities are open to all people on the other hand you also want to make sure that people elderly people for example people with kids feel comfortable and utilize the facility that was open for them as well and drawing that balance is difficult but it's never easy okay thanks for talking thank you with the process of driving down North Street to head to the barn school to look at the new playground over there and who do we bump into right here on Pitkin Street but Alderman Gary the carless with a tree Gary what is going on why do you have this tree here but as you know trees are of particular interest to me anyhow and I had an extra tree that I had bought from the Quantas Club a couple weeks ago and Dickie and Bev Allen who own our Allen Beverage Center here had wanted a tree for a number of years because I didn't have a need for it any longer I thought I'd bring it down here and plant it for them today and as you can see Pitkin Street is a very beautiful street in part because of the trees that we have right and this is just a further that aesthetic beauty by trees think one of the nice things about traveling around on a Saturday morning is you never know what you're going to run into here's an Alderman planting the tree and Gary is absolutely right I think this street along with many many others has undergone a major transformation because of the planting of trees most of all of these trees were planted within the last few years with the exception across the big one that's right our tree planting efforts in the last five years by the city have literally transformed this street into something that from an urban desert to an urban garden absolutely incredible you know that I know you and I share that it's just it absolutely is incredible that's beautiful and these are beautiful this is a what a cranberry a that's a radiant crab radiant crap right beautiful absolutely beautiful tree and what the plan is to put it right in here and this will pretty much finish off this whole side of the street we've got crabs going all the way down and nice maples red and regular maples on the other side and it's just it's just beautiful it's the first thing people notice when they come on it's just to me I mean the investment on the city's part is a few thousand dollars and it's just absolutely incredible what what that does and 20 years from now what you're going to see is tall trees all over the city and just beautiful so basically with the planting of this you'll have the tree pretty much it finished off the whole street yeah that's good I congratulate you for your efforts that's really great and another nice piece of all this that's encouraged the owners of properties here to do their own landscaping aside from all that absolutely right and that's not only here but all over the city I think people just take more pride in their neighborhood when they see the natural beauty you know as we go around also people are planting often little flowers around the base of the trees we had some 300 flowers that have just gone to seed now that came out which made the trees even more beautiful and that's something that people have done in their own you know what I've always felt is that when the city shows an effort to a community that says hey we know your needs and we're willing to put in some money and some effort people respond accordingly no question about it okay great okay Gary thanks a lot my pleasure it is absolutely amazing what can occur when you go out on a Saturday morning and just go walking around the streets of Burlington it really is lovely we are now in the Bond School which is an elementary school located in Burlington's Old North and along North Street and actually my original purpose in coming here this morning was to point out some new playground equipment that now exists on the front and we'll take a look at that as well and also to point out that here in the back which used to be a pretty pathetic area I know there used to be a hill with a sharp decline and in recent years we have improved that so the now in fact is a lovely playing area and I see some new soccer goalposts over here it turns out in walking back here what do we end up stumbling upon but one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven young people all of whom I gather attend the Bond Schools all right you guys go to the Bond School alright some alumni and okay and also who is here but the principal of the Bond School and this is ladies and gentlemen at taxpayers we point out a Saturday morning this is a Saturday morning he doesn't get paid for doing this Steve why don't you come on around here maybe and we'll talk to Steve Hamilton who is the principal of the Bond School and we'll talk to some of the young people as well Steve why on a Saturday morning do we find eleven young people painting a circle here in the backyard of the Bond School why is the principal there what's going on these kids being detained have they done some awful crimes that they're they'll see when the day's over with okay what is the fact going on this is actually the Neighborhood Clearing Assembly from Ward 3 the proposal for this year one part of it for playground improvement for the whole community was to have some mural design so the school kind of worked a little bit in cooperation we spent some of our funds to bring an artist in a local artist to help the children actually design the mural that they wanted they decided they'd design a large sun-like shape circle shape that we could use for games and then also they're going to later on will plant paint a huge picture of Vermont on here and and maybe different times paint some of the products or animals that live in the state and some of the places that children have visited on this different field trips so it's really this is more of a community project I guess right now and it's but it's the community of our school as well fantastic so you have some kids who are in the school and some kids who have recently left the school right that's right it is absolutely absolutely fantastic before we talk to the kids though what I have noted and I know is the fact is that we have new playground equipment out the front and that this backyard now is an infinitely better shape than it used to be is that correct that is correct and that's so again is the result of I think the neighborhood decisions in past years and community development funds okay so I think what we're seeing here is a very good relationship between the city and the school system and in the sense that this area is now being used more by the community I think it's fair to say I've gone down here some weekday evenings and seen a lot of families out here using the equipment I think that's right I think another part of this year's plan was a beginning phase of putting some of a tennis court the playground off to the east of the school is in a nice shape and we're going to be looking to put a temporary or movable tennis facility in there so that parks and recreation can have different after school in fact we've just appropriated that money hopefully it'll be passed in the next couple of weeks great okay that's good why don't we say hello to some of the kids okay okay kids who wants to talk on television a couple people alright I'll come to you will be easier I think now what I do on Tuesday night is I do a television programs on channel 15 any of you ever watch channel 15 okay and that's a special type of station that deals mostly with the city of Burlington and this is not air and that helps film a lot of the things that are going on and one of the things we want to do is talk to you about why you're here and why you're doing this and who wants to explain that to me who wants to tell me okay this young man right here what is okay what is your name and you go to the barn school yeah okay well what are you doing over here we're going to make a big picture out of paintings okay picture of Vermont and did you help decide that this would be the project yeah good and would you talk about it in your class okay and what's going to happen after this is painted yellow what else is going to happen we're going to make a big map right in front of the center of it and who's going to help make that map all of you guys are going to help throw that map paint that map and what color is it going to be you know I think green and yellow another paint over that is absolutely fantastic okay who else wants to tell me a little bit about this project okay come on okay what is your name do you usually have yellow right here on your cheek tell me okay this is Tommy Duvall okay so what's going on here why are you out painting so make my school look better okay so how things been going at the barn school huh how a thing's been going here at the barn school good you like it so do you guys you know you're going to be painting when this is finished yellow I understand that you're going to paint a map of Vermont and then you're going to place in here somewhat animals that exist in Vermont and stuff yeah cities okay good and and have you helped design this okay that's really good you have a good time you have a good time doing it okay well I think it's really going to make this this yellow is a beautiful bright yellow and I think it's going to make this playground look a lot nicer than it used to be right now you guys play over there often do you remember the way it used to be with that big hill down there who can remember that it's a little bit nicer now than it used to be okay who wants to else talk to me on the okay let's go okay you both of you guys come here alright now somebody now look first of all I want the TV camera to take a look at these yellow sneakers these are fantastic yellow sneakers so where did you buy a pair of yellow sneakers like that that is really something else yeah okay what is your name crystal crystal lot oh and what are you doing here crystal painting okay did you take part in planning this effort yeah we had a group what you discussed it in class okay and so you're also going to be working on the map of Vermont right whether any other ideas that would discuss those what people like the idea for what are going to be two squares and there's going to be a maze and a dinosaur a maze and a dinosaur yeah we're going right into this circle yeah where's over there we're on the pavement or over on the pavement so you're going to be you're going to be painting a maze and a dinosaur yes and what is the maze going to be doing people going to be a place for a game kids the player yeah okay what about the dinosaur that's just going to be a picture going to be like a maze it's going to be like a maze are you going to be able to play games around that okay that's fantastic okay thank you very much what is your name Jason Jason what we'll I'm sorry we'll Jason we'll okay Jason and were you involved on the the planning process here as well no okay you just coming out and helping yeah now it seems to me you guys are making a really nice playground here huh yep so do you come down here on Saturdays and Sundays as well as during the week to play yeah okay a lot of kids come here and play not too many okay do you ever use the up the playground back here to play soccer and stuff well good okay so how are things going at the Monschool good okay you're gonna be looking are you looking forward to summer vacation yes okay thanks very much okay okay thank you okay see you all bye bye one of the fun things about doing this program especially about going out on a Saturday morning is that you never know what you're going to find and what we have just found in the last few minutes is an alderman who is planting a tree across the street we have found a principal of a local elementary school who is working on a Saturday morning with 11 kids putting in a mural in the backyard and I think these are the little things which tell us how the city of Burlington is moving and especially this area which for many many years have been the most neglected area in Burlington it is just a delight to see the kind of changes that are taking place in the kind of activities that are occurring where we're sitting right now is the front of Bond school and what you're looking at here is some new playground equipment that had just been added here I think over the last year and what you'll see if you come down here on a warm evening is you'll see parents and kids out playing here you'll see it utilize more than just as a school facility but it is a community facility and I think these are elements of change that are taking place in the old North End which indicates a significant improvement in the quality of life something that I'm proud of. Okay now what we have is North Street is behind us and one of the concerns that many people have spoken about regarding the North Street specifically is there aren't trees on North Street and during the last couple of years we have made some good progress you can see over there in front of the Gerus store we have four potted trees and they come out and they'll be out all summer long and last fall I think it was we planted one two permanent trees over here and in fact if I'm not mistaken we're going to be planting even more trees on North Street there are also some new trees further west so one of the goals in beautifying the area is to plant trees in the North Street area we're making some good progress there as well.