 I'd like to welcome everyone to the East District Candidate Forum. This is for the special election that's coming up in December. And we're hoping that this forum will give you a chance to know the candidates, what their views are. And for the people that are here in the room, as I mentioned earlier, you have an opportunity to ask questions. That's also true for people who are tuned in via Zoom, and we'll go from there. The basic format is going to be that the candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves. The steering committee has devised a number of questions. We're going to ask all the candidates. Then there'll be audience questions and time permitting. We have a second set of questions that the steering committee devised until we run out of time. So, without further delays here, let me introduce the candidates. We have three candidates tonight. Dina John and Jake Schumann and Maya Braun. And we had a drawing out in the club room there just a moment ago. And the first person up to give an opening statement is Dina John. Hi, everyone. I see a lot of familiar faces since I was last here. Sit back, okay. All right. Cute. So, I see a lot of familiar faces, but I also see some new faces. So, I want to reintroduce myself. My name is Dina John, and I have lived here my whole life. I grew up in the school system, and now I'm involved in the community. And a lot of my experiences are based upon what's like living in Burlington. At a young age, I witnessed food insecurity. I've experienced food insecurity. My family was a victim in our home in the middle of winter. My mother was the only one working. She was working two jobs to try to sustain five children. We didn't have him, and we were kicked out. So, she had to find a solution for our family. And I didn't really realize what it was like growing up a low-income child of immigrant parents who were healthcare workers. Until at 13 years old, it was my responsibility to make sure all my siblings got free lunch. And then that was sort of when I realized that I have to be the solution to my problems. No one is going to give it to me. So when you experience that at such a young age, you start wanting to make sure other people have solutions. So then at 18 years old, I was nominated and asked to be an advisor for a campaign at the time addressing incarceration as well as opioid crisis. That was my first big job in politics and really addressing issues in my community. Later that year, I was helping out a law firm dealing with employee harassment cases. So then right now, when I was asked to run, I have had such great opportunities, met such great people, and I'm learning more and more about the community, and I'm really excited to use my experiences to apply policies. I've used my job in the courthouse to make sure public safety and housing is properly addressed. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Next up is Jake Schumann. Hey everybody. So I don't know. I'm torn between addressing the camera and addressing the room, so I'll probably bounce back and forth a bit. So my name is Jake Schumann. I have lived in Burlington for the past 13 years. I moved here when I was 18. Public school was something that was a bit of a challenge for me. You know, just the whole conformity aspect. You know, as a young kind of teenager who was bucking the system and struggling with all that that a lot of teenagers deal with, I decided to convince my family to let me leave home at 17, move to a hippie commune in Tennessee, and I did my last year of high school down, for those of you who are familiar, at the farm in Somertown, Tennessee, which is a world-renowned intentional community, and I got to self-direct my final year of education, and I think that was a really formative experience as I learned how to adult without the safety net of my family. It was when I was living in Tennessee that I first experienced homelessness. This was 2008 and 2009, so, you know, part of the agreement that I made with my folks was that I would be self-supporting while I was there. And then the great recession hit, right? So I lost my job, and I found myself in a position where I could either return home with my tail between my legs, go back to public school, which I abhorred, and give up on what was to become, you know, my great coming out as an adult, or I could live in a tent in the woods in what was a pretty temperate climate, and just make it work, and so that's what I did. And so that was my first experience with homelessness. My second experience with homelessness was when I moved to Burlington. So after leaving the farm in Tennessee, I came to Burlington. I was just going to stop through, but I fell in love with the place, and I've been in love with the place ever since. As I explained to folks time and time and again, I've tried to find some place that I like better, but I have been hard-pressed to do so. So when I moved to Burlington, I was 18. All my connections in the community were students. They were all living in dorms. And so for the first four months that I lived in Burlington, until I could find an apartment, I was bouncing between couches and beds and dorms and sleeping in my car. So, you know, I've worked recently with the homeless community at the Holiday Inn, but I've also been a part of that community. And if any of you read the Seven Days article that came out about the three of us today, it was a great article. I really liked it. It noted that in 2020 when I stood for election, for inspector of election, the only other race I've ever been in. The result of that, unfortunately, was that I became homeless for the third time in my life because I, trying to do the right thing for the community, for the planet, living in a tiny home, my opponent held that against me and tried to evict me from the district, thus getting rid of his opponent. And ultimately he was successful. But I think it's unfortunate that in this city, people who so frequently try to do the right thing for themselves, for the community, for their families, find themselves in a position where they're running afoul of our norms, our expectations. And I think that it's high time for us to consider what we are asking of each other. And conformity is maybe not the right thing that we should be asking of each other. I think that we should endeavor to be more patient, more understanding, to empathize with each other and recognize that sometimes when we feel that folks are not doing the right thing, they're doing the best that they can with the circumstances that they have. So that's why I'm running. I'm running because I am not a politician, I'm just a human. Thank you. Alright, thanks. We're going to transition into the Maya's turn. I'm going to introduce you. I'm sorry. Not at all. Thank you everyone for coming tonight. My name is Maya Brant and I am really honored and humbled to be running for East District City Council. I've lived in Burlington for 33 years. I grew up in southern Vermont. And my commitment to the community over time has really been based on living here, having children here, having children in the school system, being a teacher, watching the city grow and develop. Right now, one of the reasons that there are really pressing issues for Burlington is because it's incredibly popular. This is a wonderful place to live and we want to live here safely. We want enough housing for everyone. And these are the issues facing City Council. And the person who becomes the East District representative for Ward 1 and Ward 8 will address many of these really pressing issues that affect all of us. So that's why I'm running. I am really excited to be here in the Meeting House, which is really an appropriate place, I think, for this forum. It's a place of respect, civility, community, and activism. And at this point, I am an artist. I am something of an introvert. And I am stepping up because our community needs representation. And this is my time to participate in this. My apologies. I don't know. I wish you will now be transitioning to some questions. You will see that the prepared questions, and you guys have all seen these, is that correct? Our combination of questions to sort of get a feeling for the people and then also get a feeling for how they perceive problems in the city. So the first question, and we do have an order for how the questions will be answered. We're going to rotate through the candidates as to who goes first. So the first question is, how do you work with people you disagree with or have a different perspective? And Jake, you're first up for this question. All right. First, I just want to apologize for taking five minutes when both Maya and Dina left three minutes on the table for the first time for our initial introductions. So I'll try and make up the difference by speeding through some of these questions. But you won't have to listen to me so long because we're just doing 90 seconds on these questions. So I think it's a great question. You know, something that I hold in my mind is that one way that you avoid neurodegenerative disorders as you age, according to research, is that you challenge yourself. So something that I've always really embraced wholeheartedly is working with people who challenge me. I think that those are the best kind of people, honestly, because they challenge you to grow. So I think that when it comes to folks that I disagree with, my first inclination is always to try and understand where they're coming from, what they're bringing to the table, why we have landed at different points. And something that's important to recognize there, and I'll leave it at this, is have we arrived at different destinations while originating at the same point? Or do we have a fundamental disagreement about the nature of things that led to that disagreement? Thanks, Jake. I think I'm next. You are next. I think that when people disagree, it's really important for them to listen to each other. And when you hear someone else's perspective, you can understand where the disagreement lies, and you can either try to, you know, address that point of disagreement, or you might try to persuade someone else of your perspective. But listening to each other and understanding the communication is absolutely important, and that one's own position might not be the best one. You know, it's very important to stay open to ideas, new ideas, different people's ideas, and this is absolutely crucial in communicating with everyone. And so flexibility and open-mindedness are very important. Thanks. Dina? So the best part of my job, but also the hardest part of my job is delegating. My role is to delegate. For example, two of us here are renters. One of us here is a landlord. My part of my job is to delegate cases where we have a landlord on one side, a tenant on another side. We have someone who committed the crime, another person who is the victim. I have been trained in the expertise of delegating such emotionally charged cases, ones where I found myself emotionally invested, but I realized that my responsibility is to make sure both sides are being heard and both sides' arguments are being properly processed. And I think when so much of your work is delegating cases such as relief from abuse with children, you really grow a type of thick skin and you're able to take away the biases, take away the political lenses and see that in the day, we all just want to go home. So let's try to find that common ground. And there's not a common ground, then we'll look for another solution. And that's why I'm really excited to run for city council. It's time to have an experienced delegator, so we're no longer in deadlock. Public safety has been such a deadlock, but I deal with public safety. So I'm excited to say, yeah, welcome to my life, but now I'm ready to make city council part of my life and I'm ready to make sure the community is being properly handled with an experienced delegator. Thanks. Our next question, and Maya, you'll be answering first. What personal strengths and weaknesses do you bring to the role of city councilor? As I mentioned, I'm an introvert. It could be a weakness during the pandemic in particular. There was this very insular time. I think a lot of us experienced that. And being isolated was really, it was forced. But I am an artist and I am comfortable being alone. And in the same sense, that's my strength. When I am able to do research, I am able to figure things out. I'm able to start knocking on doors and reaching out to the community and really realizing that we're in this together. So being an introvert has really, you know, it's shaped who I am as an artist. But I think it puts me in a position to realize I need to reach out. I need to break out and be something of a public person in order to help the city and be a part of the democratic process. Thanks. Dina? Well, I mean for mine. It's obvious. It's been something that I think it's what people challenged me on is you're young. Another young person wanted to run for city council. Uh-oh. And I think no matter how profound my resume is, no matter how much work I've done towards the community, no matter the fact that I spent spring semester working with the Manuski School District to make sure that their bill pushing for increased funding was heard and passed and working with the mayor on it. And Manuski, it's still not good enough for some people. But what I think is a pro about me being young is because I'm energetic. I'm passionate. I don't sleep. Why? Because I come from a low-income family. My parents are healthcare workers. They don't sleep. That's the reality. I learned from them. And when you grow up like me, when you have to really create your own table to create your own seat because no one's going to give you the seat, it's not about age. It's about what you're actually doing. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. I'm really grateful that I get to answer this question last. A lot of what both of you just said really resonates with me. Yeah, I think that when it comes to being on City Council, it's a job that demands a lot of you and offers very little in return. So I think that a strength that I can bring to the position and a reason that I'm running is that I feel like I am at a place and a space in my life where I can make the time for it because it is something that really demands a lot of time. I think that my mind is very analytical but in a very humanistic way. I'm very experienced with taking data and relating it to the human beings behind the data and asking good questions. So I think this is an important strength to bring to City Council and asking those good questions and finding those nuggets within the policy where things are being overlooked or opportunities are being missed. As far as weaknesses, I think in addition to what Maya said I would echo in stepping up and being a public figure is very frightening to me and something that does not come naturally. I think that my weakness that is most prescient here is that I am very principled in the ways of how I think democracy should function. Thanks. Our next question, and Dina you'll be the first one to answer, is to give an example of an action you took that resulted in unintended consequences and what you learned from it. Well, before I even accepted to run, I've always and still am a leader in my community and I was doing a lot of work with youth reserve justice. You know, I work in the courthouse and juvenile cases are such a tragedy because a lot of times these children grew up in housing that was not sustainable and have access to education and when I ran for council, I knew that was something I didn't really want to let go. But then as we can count as I was nominated and I met so much people, I started attending events like this. I had such a bigger platform, I knew that I couldn't be as much present and it resulted in me taking a step down so I could do the bigger work so I could talk to more people in the community. But that is a lesson that, you know, one person cannot save it all. That one person cannot do, let someone else step up. And I think, you know, even if I try to do it all, I can't always, but that's what I'm really excited that people I've made friends with and the doors I've knocked, we're all in this together. It's not just continuing to work together on it. Thanks. Jake, you're next. All right. So I'm going to challenge you as our moderator. I think that the question was maybe designed to challenge us candidates, but I'm going to pick on the language and say that it can be very positive. So I'm going to give a really positive example. When I was 21, 2021, Attorney General at the time, Bill Sorrell had a conference up at UVM on the wage gap and trying to explore like why women in our community and our state make less than men, why there's not pay equity. Coming out of that conference, there was a working group that was formed to write a bill for the legislature that would address these gaps and, you know, being young, looking for some experience, looking to learn. I was like, yeah, this is a great opportunity to join this working group and see what comes out of it. And I distinctly remember one of those meetings, you know, this group of about 12 people were trying to figure out like, can we get this thing through? Do some things need to go on the chopping block? And one of those things was the right to request or the right to discuss your pay with your coworkers. And I was like, nope, we need to keep it. Five years later, a former coworker lost their job. And I said, nope, you are protected based on that bill that I helped write. Thanks. You're not going to let me forget this, right? In 2017, I decided to become a union representative at St. Michael's College. And I have been working for many, many years at the college and there was this strange absence of acknowledgement of adjunct faculty. And it bothered me. There was something fundamentally missing in the communications. A friend of mine who had worked there for 19 years retired and there was no mention of her having worked for 19 years. And so by being a union representative and fighting for adjunct faculty rights, for higher pay, for acknowledgement by an institution, I think the reason that I started with that role really was based on my own personal experiences and seeing how my friend just disappeared after her retirement. But the consequences, the not entirely unintended, were quite wonderful in that the college acknowledged and began to respect adjunct faculty more. And this is a workforce that they rely on enormously and by inviting adjuncts to faculty meetings and getting representation, it was a wonderful result of these actions. All right, thank you. The tone of the questions is going to shift a little. And as you know, City Council addresses a lot of different concerns that are close to the wards and city-wide and even state or nationally. And so the question is, how will you balance time between addressing concerns of the ward, city, or national and global concerns? And Jake, you're up first. Well, I think really we need to consider how we balance time between the needs of the East District, Wards 1 & 8, and the city and the state. I think as far as issues of the nation and issues of the world, honestly, I don't think we have time for it. I would love to. I think that when Bernie Sanders was the mayor and he made all these bold statements about what was going on in the world, like that was a luxury that we don't have. Right now we have so many crises that we need to balance within the city, within the district, within the state, that we don't have the luxury to be making statements about the war in Ukraine and, you know, apartheid in Israel and, you know, everything else that comes with these statements. Like if they're simple and they are non-controversial and we can just do it real quick, like I'm all for it. But, you know, honestly, I think it was a waste of time in political capital when we got into a debate about what was going on in Israel and Palestine. Though I have my own very strong feelings about that. I just don't think this is the time or the place. So you just got to figure it out. Figure out what our priorities are. Okay, Maya? I would disagree with Jake. And I think that what we do locally has global implications. Burlington was the leader in the nation with sustainable energy, powering the city. There are many other things that Burlington's on the cusp of doing or has started to do that could affect national policy, that could affect the way environmental, you know, and lake water, for example, levels, cleanliness levels could be adopted by other countries. Every country right now is at a different phase. We're all facing climate change. And there's an enormous time of innovation right now. And some of the things that we can come up with here have much larger implications than just being for this very small geographical area. And the homeless crisis, the houseless crisis, there are architects and social workers and philosophers and law enforcement people who are looking for solutions. And it's happening right here. And I think that we need to take a close look at these solutions that are happening at this very moment locally. Thanks. Tina? What I would say is, I agree a lot with what Maya is saying, that we, as a town, we do a lot of great work. And I think that's the reason why I love Burlington. I mean, look what we passed with the reproductive rights. We were the first to do so. And the way we pushed to make sure the slavery was taken out of the constitution. So we've done really great work. We continue to do so. I believe one of the leaders towards addressing climate change. But what I want to caution is what I see a lot also in my job is that it's so easy for Burlington to be like politicized. I feel like out of all the towns in Vermont, for some reason, it's our town that the New York Times are a goal about the biking thieves. You know, I felt like New York Times didn't really adequately address the types of crime rates and public safety that was going on. And I feel like our newspapers too, like they really, it's really a town that can be easily politicized at times because everyone sort of looks at Burlington. And what I really want, because I love my town so much, I really, really want to encourage to make sure, for us to make time for all these issues, we have to make sure we're also delegating towards people who have higher power than us, which is like our state reps and etc. Like they're the ones that can get on the news people are getting globally more than us. And I feel like the more we believe that our community should not only have to be the solution for every problem that we should pressure in more towards like people who have more power than us, then we can continue to do great. Thanks. The last question in this segment is about issues facing Ward 1 and what is the largest issue facing Ward 1? And how do you propose to address it and include recommendations for policy or ordinance changes as needed? And Maya, you are up for it. Yeah. The largest issue I see facing Ward 1 right now is representation on the City Council. This is really totally lacking. Well, no, not entirely, but the East District seat is Ward 1 and Ward 8. And Ward 8 has absolutely no representation at all. The issues that are really pressing for us in Ward 1, because I live in Ward 1, I think are public safety. I have spoken with many neighbors who have had their houses broken into and things stolen. And this really is not the way Burlington has been in the past. There's a direct correlation between the rise in crime and recent events that City Council has been directly involved in. And I really think that addressing the police force and bringing it up to a level that is appropriate for Burlington will really help with the spate of crime. I think it will make Burlington a more attractive place for investors who will invest in housing and businesses. The new high school is really important. And all of this comes together to really make for a vital and thriving community. These are all interrelated issues. Thanks. Dina? So a couple of weeks ago, Mayor Murrow called me to have a sit-down meeting and the conversation was around what I found was the most pressing. And first and foremost, I addressed public safety with him. I was very, very clear with him that no matter how much police you hire, it's not going to address the public safety issue enough because it starts with education, affordable housing. It starts with the war on drugs, so systematic racism. We are years behind on these issues. And I was very adamant about it. And as someone, as a black woman from low income housing who's seen a lot of crime, who's lost someone to murder this someone that was on newspaper, it starts with, it starts at home. And my cases I deal with, I watch family cases turn into crime cases. It really starts at home. And the other thing would be housing. You know, I am a renter and I worked two jobs at one point and I just afford groceries and rent. And my story is not special. It's the story of a lot of people in our town. So let's address that. And let's please support things like Champlain Housing Trust, Earhart, who's a notable member of our community, like he built Champlain Housing and that's where I live right now. And do you see that correlation? If we work together and we listen to each other, a lot can happen. It doesn't have to be about what parties were on. It really does not. Thanks, Dina. I think that was a great segue to the things that I wanted to talk about. Include that I wanted to mention that I was talking to Earhart on election day. And what we were discussing was the most, I guess, was our neighborhoods and how you and I have worked together on projects like the People's Kitchen. And, you know, that's a big reason why I'm involved in the People's Kitchen is because it gives me food security, right? Before this forum, I went and got dinner from my friends through the People's Kitchen. And so what Earhart and I were discussing on election day was the inequity in our community. And I think that's an important thing to discuss. And I think, so for those of you who don't know, I live in the River Watch set of buildings and Dina lives in the salmon run. Riverside. Yeah. And so we're both on Riverside Avenue. Both of our little communities are right next to each other. Yet there's such differences. In that article I referenced earlier, Dina mentioned to Courtney Lambden that people in her community are afraid to call the police. Meanwhile, in my community, my homeowner's association has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Burlington Police Officers Association so that they, when they are off the clock for the BPD, can come and pick up extra hours patrolling in our neighborhood on our dime. What does that tell you about the state of our community when one group of people can pay for more police coverage than people in the neighborhood next door? Inequity. That's the problem with our community. That's the most pressing issue that we need to address. All right. Thanks. We're going to go to questions from the audience. Do we have questions here? Did people write questions down? Did anyone write a question down? No. All right. So who wants to start? Who has their hand up for having a question? And you are? I'm Cheryl Green. Cheryl? I live in Ward 1. Okay. Sorry. You have to have this. Thanks. And just, I guess I'm going to repeat what we said before. Each of the candidates will have a chance to answer every question that's posed. Okay. So I'm Cheryl Green. I live in Ward 1. And my question is about understanding the way the city works. You've talked about it being a big responsibility. There are so many moving parts in the city. And I wonder if you could talk each of you to the idea of your capacity and knowledge about how all those moving parts work together and how you can bring your capacity to that responsibility. Deena, you're going first. Hi, Cheryl. Well, I mean, I have, I'm very privileged in fact that I have a job where I'm the most directly involved in city and town issues. So a lot of the matters and concerns we will address here, it's going to end up on my next, the next day. That's how it works. So I think I'm really, one of the reasons why I'm writing is that I think we should have someone who's not only grew up here and lived here for so long. But if they're already involved, they come with already the knowledge of what needs to be done and also what's happening behind closed doors. Like, you know, the Burlington Police Department, like they call the courthouse a lot of times. So I see the types of cases they deal with. I see a types of cases about civil matters with like employees, fair wages, union cases. One of my friends talked about being sued, even though his job is to do union work. So I think I, because I'm in that very privileged position, I'm ready to use it and collaborate with my other members on council if nominated and selected. Thank you. I think that's a really good and important question to ask. Just to start off the bat a few weeks ago at the last, I think forum, somebody asked me about attending city council meetings and I said to that person, I'll see you at the next one. But at the next city council meeting, actually like as it was starting, that was when I had to put my dog down. So I have not been at any city council meetings, but I have been watching them after the fact. So if that person is here or watching, I just want to address that off the bat. I think in this city we have so much going on that bandwidth is a really important thing to talk about. Like you can't be up to date on everything at all times and know what's going on everywhere and how to manage it. So I think that having a personal network of people plugged into these different positions and having relationships with folks who are doing things is important. So, you know, I'm not going to name drop all the people that I'm friends with and who I talk to and who I know because I don't think that's a very becoming thing to do. But I would say that I have spent a long time developing those relationships. I am very abreast of what people are doing in the city, how the relationships work, who to talk to, when the order in which you do these things and when and where to spend your political capital. Thank you for the question. And I would say that I am a novice at this. I've been a long time resident here. But in speaking with neighbors, I've learned so much and the role of the East District City Councilor is to be a representative of your district and to bring information from your constituents and how that works in the complexity of city politics is something I'm learning about. But I don't believe it happens behind closed doors and overhearing police reports. And I just want to be very clear that it is about being clear with your neighbors and constituents about representing them on incredibly important issues in the City Council. But it does need to be done in an honorable, honest, transparent way. Thanks. Do we have questions from people who are online? I can't really see the board. No one said it? I have a question. I'm Michael Long. I live in Ward 1. And the question I'd like to address to the candidates is about polarization and divisiveness. We have a lot of that nationally. We've been suffering from that quite a bit for some years now. And oddly enough, even though here in Burlington, notice we don't have a Republican candidate on the dais, today we have progressives or a progressive and a Democrat and an independent. And my sense is that all of you are pretty ideologically, pretty close. It's always baffled me that the Pragues and the Dems are so much at one another's jugulars, even though there shouldn't be such a distinction or such animosity between them. So I guess my question is that how do we deal with that on a local level so that we can move forward more effectively? Thank you. And Jake, you're up first on this. Thanks for clarifying because I forgot to ask. Yeah, so thank you for the question. I think it's a really important one. And for those folks who are curious, that's why I'm here. If only to be a third name on the ballot in this, our first ranked choice election in, what, 12, 13 years. I hope that folks will take me more seriously and consider me a viable option, but we need only look to the Lamoille County Sheriff's Race of November 8th just past to find that people seem to vote for the person with the party affiliation regardless of whether or not they have pending criminal charges and have been fired from the Sheriff's Department that they're running to lead. So I don't want to pick on my other candidates, but I think that's why it's important to refer back to that question we just had, because as an independent, knowing how the processes work and how to get things done, I won't be reliant on party leadership. I can actually forge a path that is inclusive of all. So to bring it back to where I started, I think that the way we get around the partisanship that has become so vitriolic in our city is ranked choice voting, having more people on the ballot. I really don't think it has to do with party affiliation at all. And I think that we do have divergent ideas about what Burlington needs moving forward. And it really comes down to lived experience. And I believe that up here you have three different candidates at different points in their life with different life experience. And at this point, running as a Democrat, I am really proud to step up as a person participating in a democracy which has been at risk over the past few years. And so the views that I have and that I bring to the table are really based on life as an entrepreneur, as a professional, as an artist, as a professor, as a mother, as a neighbor, as a homeowner, as a renter, and as a landlord, as Dina mentioned. And I think that that experience really shapes some of the decisions that I think really need to be made for Burlington's future. Thanks, Dina. So when I was here last time, I remember having a conversation with this lovely couple in the back. I remember talking to you about sort of like, you know, your concerns about a progressive party when it comes to answering public safety. I remember discussing to you about domestic violence, which is something I feel like needs to be more of a conversation when talking about public safety. I remember like leaving our conversation and really, I really felt as if we're going to choose a counselor that's to represent Ward 1 plus Ward 8. Let's make it someone that, you know, you can invite home and sit down and have a conversation with, even if you're at different odds, not someone that makes you uncomfortable that you know you're not able to communicate with. I represent so many identities. You know, I represent the New American families. I represent BIPOC. I represent being the child healthcare workers. I represent low-income families. I represent people who have experienced food insecurity and the housing crisis. So because these matters affect me so much, I understand why at the end of the day, it's really about the issue at hand and less so the part of affiliation. And I'm really ready to work towards that with whoever does not mind the party. For some of the day, like I always say, I want, we all just deserve to go home and not left feeling a deadlock, which I think is the issue where a lot of us are feeling right now. Okay, thanks. Other questions from the floor here? I don't know your name. Thank you. Yeah, my name's Todd Schlossberg and I live on Loomis Street, just around the corner. Just around the corner from North Prospect. One of the issues that I, that is facing Ward 1 and Ward 8, that is very specific to Ward 1 and Ward 8, and is not as, well, not as big policy as around jobs, houselessness, things like that, but it has to do with the upcoming and current redistricting process. And I want to ask you, each of you, because if you were a Ward 1 or Ward 8 counselor, you would have the interest of that, your ward and hopefully the city in mind, but you would also have this direct commitment to your ward. The unique thing about Ward, the East District is that you represent both. And there's a sort of a potential conflict here, because as you all probably know, some of the maps that are on consideration, some of the leading from some of the folks on City Council seem to be leaning toward would, to some of us, eviscerate Ward 1, move many, many more students, renters into Ward 1. Some are concerned that there's some politicizing going on, because now you have Ward 8, which is largely student, tends to elect a certain demographic for City Council, as we saw the last time. If under some of these maps, if they're endorsed by the majority of the City Council, one party or the other, this ward that I've lived in for almost 32 years will change dramatically. And the neighborhood and community that I've come to love and raised my children in will no longer exist. That might be better for Ward 8. It'll be great for Ward 5 and 6, because they're not going to have to handle any of this shit. Sorry, but pardon me. And I'm not an anti-student, because we've had students across the street, on our street, for the time we've lived here, and it's been sometimes wonderful. It's sometimes been really, really bad. I mean like scary bad. It depends on who's there. The bottom line is UVM doesn't have enough student housing, especially for first and second year students, I'm sorry, third and fourth year. So this redistricting plan that's being discussed in the different maps, I want to ask what are all of your views on redistricting and bottom line is specifically about changes to the makeup of Ward 1 that would fundamentally change Ward 1 and also fundamentally change Ward 8, but in very different ways. So if you could speak to that. Thank you. Yeah, I think the core of this is representation on city council. The maps that are being drawn up, unfortunately that last meeting there was no representative for Ward 1 or Ward 8. And these are crucial issues because they do affect us. The issue of the students is being dealt with with these many different maps. How do you distribute that student vote more evenly over the different districts? The reason for that is that you have a transient population that is not necessarily as invested in the long-term of the community the way a long-term resident is and the impact of that vote for something that is attractive or trendy for a person who is 19, 20, 21 years old who's living in Burlington temporarily The weight of that needs to be distributed more evenly and I was really disheartened to hear that there was no Ward 1 representation at the last city council meeting because representation is what will make for something that works for the residents who are feeling this and you mentioned scary. Some of the violence in City Hall Park feels like a result of some of the decisions that were made based on votes from people who didn't necessarily know the consequences of defunding the police would be. I think my time is done. Dina? So I've lived in Ward 1 for ever a decade there and I live in a family neighborhood and I agree with you. I wouldn't like to see Ward 1 being handled in the means where we don't have enough families and homeowners and renters being represented in there. I really, and I've talked about this with people in my campaign, I really believe we need to hold EVM more accountable in ways in which they overly emit students every year and when you overly emit students every year you're only exaggerating the housing crisis. So that's something if I was the city council I really want to address that if we're going to talk redistricting we have to hold an EVM accountable for how many students they're emitting every year and also I need to respond to sort of the violence that we see in the City Hall. It starts with the war on drugs, it starts with affordable housing, it starts with education, it starts with the fact that mothers are able to stay at home and afford rent. It's not just about redistricting it's really about these underlying issues that's something I feel very passionate about and you know Earhart reached out to me as well as another community member and my plan is to sit down with them and talk more about redistricting, you know representation matter but also listening to each other so I'm excited to do more research and work with my community about that so if I become city council I have a clear stance to represent our ward 1 people, our ward 1 families and everyone there. Thanks, Jake. Yeah, I'm a map nerd so I got some redistricting people in my corner who I nerd out with having coffee later this week with one of them and I've actually played with the program that they're all using it's an open source program anybody here is able to just log on and play and try and come up with your own map if you want. It's a lot of fun for those of us who are map nerds. So, you know, I think like wards 2 and 3 historically have a small number of people who actively participate in the election that gets their counselor and so I think that a lot of people have raised really good questions like what if we talked about the new American population that doesn't have the right to vote in city elections right now and hopefully that will change in March. I'm relying on you guys. You know, what if we talked about them in the same way and said, you know, we need to divide up the new American population in the old North End so that, you know, it's more equitable for everyone else. So I think like we really need to be very deliberate about how we talk about the student population and really hone in and be very specific. The students that are, you know, making challenges for the system it's the freshmen and the sophomores who live in these specific dorms and can only live there for one or two years max. That's the only people that we should be considering moving around between these other wards. And if you look at it that way then I think there is a way to keep everyone very intact. Thanks. We have other questions? Carter. I wasn't going to ask a question and then I had to. So, no opinion, just a question. So, there's been a lot of conversation around public safety and I think a lot of misinformation around public safety. And the ACLU described it as in a letter to the mayor in the last year or so as an intentional campaign of misinformation to instill fear. I'm getting that quote right. The instill fear and intentional campaign of misinformation was correct. Speaking to how the mayor and the police chief have decided to engage on this issue publicly. So, Ward 1 has a long tradition of electing folks who can both collaborate across party lines and also stand up for our ward like redistricting right now is a good example where like our ward needs to be stood up for. So, how do you balance collaborating and also standing up to the mayor? Dina, you're up first for this. Yeah. Well, so we all know the big newspaper that was released this last month that I was a part of and really addressed about New Americans and how they have been really involved on the public safety issue with gun violence and drugs. And I think one of the reasons why I'm running is because I represent New American families. I represent people who grow up in the education system. I represent someone who's lived in Ward 1 forever, a decade with my family. So, I really understand the redistricting issue. So, I think when I had my mayor with Morrell, like I said earlier, I was very adamant and I brought forward the issues that people who I have door-knocked has addressed. And I said to them, this sounds like a good question for the mayor. Let's see what he says. And I brought those questions forward because transparency really matters. Bennington has a population of like less than 5,000. They've had an enormous increase of public safety murder cases. But yet, the newspaper politicizes in Burlington all over again just that Bennington has the same issue. I think transparency and make sure that's very clear is so, so critical because what I don't want is for our community to feel like we are the only solution to the public safety, nor, and I promise to you, the police department doesn't want to feel like they're the only solution to public safety. It could be collaborated. You just need someone who is already involved, who is already in that system and who sees the bigger picture who's lived here for as long as I and who, so, we can talk more after, but thank you. Jake, you're up next. Yeah, thanks, Carter. I think that's a great question because it is a balance, right, between collaborating and being magnanimous and knowing which battles to pick and which ones, you know, you really just don't have the stuff for. So I think that you, the people of the East District, really benefit from the fact that all three of us, none of us are an incumbent. So we all get to pull the same move, whichever one of us wins. I'm new, right? Like, I have no skin in this game. This is an opportunity for a fresh start and I think whoever wins should really pull that move because I don't think that it will be beneficial to anybody to try and relitigate past conversations past decisions. We just need to forge a new path ahead because right now there are a lot of emotions. There are a lot of feelings and thoughts and we just got to, we got to move on. I would say that though we are all quote-unquote newcomers to elected office, there are two of us here who have very deep connections and strong understandings of these issues. And I got to give credit where credit's due. Dina works in the court system and she sees these cases on a granular level. I know these people. I also see these issues on a granular level. That's a really interesting question and I think it does come to representation of one's constituents and you're on City Council. You are working for your words and I think that you used a word, what did you say, tempering? Balance. Balance, you used another word with regard to the mayor and I think that civil discourse, being persuasive, being able to communicate and create coalitions and work with other members of City Council is absolutely crucial in getting anything done and it might be about being persuasive on some issue that you're passionate about, that you learned about from a neighbor, but working together is absolutely fundamental in moving forward at all. So I would look forward to being able to represent constituents but also work with everyone, including the mayor. Okay, thanks. Did I see other hands for questions? Yes. Thank you. I guess my name is Lindsay. Okay. Lindsay Huddle. I guess I would like to see what each of you have to say about leadership of our community, of our Ward 1. As Todd mentioned, we need somebody who's really going to stick together for us. When I saw that first map that came out, I felt like someone was taking a knife to take my neighborhood away. It's a very personal feeling. I've lived here a long time. That on top of not knowing if you call the police when your car's been broken into, if you might see them next week or something, these are really core feelings of living in a neighborhood that you need to, you need that. I feel tremendous support for my neighbors than I do from anyone else. I'm thinking there are some really big things that we need to think about in the redistricting as one of them. Why they would split off some of our family neighborhoods and just stick them out there with people that they don't have the same concerns with. I sort of understand this because I know that this has happened racially around our country, I would really like to hear some accountability and some planning going forward about if there is redistricting. Secondly, I'd like to hear some visioning from you guys. We have this high school. All of us, I think Ward 1 especially, always votes for the school. But with the new tax assessments on top of it, it was a personal commitment to community for the people here to vote for that and they did it. I'd like to know that City Council is kind of coming, that their members on City Council are trying to find ways to help pay for that aside from just upping our taxes. So that's one thing, but I think there are other issues of visioning our community. I'd like to hear from you. So your question is what's your vision for Erlington? Yes, for the City Council, how you can, on City Council, make things better for the City. But those issues were particular to me. Okay. Sorry. It is a lot to respond to, but I'll do my best. And if you want to ask another question after we all answer this one, I think that's totally fine. So I think like to clarify, I am a renter in Ward 1, but I also still own my tiny house and the property that it's on up in Ward 7. So I am also a property owner in this town. And I agree with your sentiment that it's, you know, it's a real gift. It's like actually giving of yourself to vote in favor of these school bonds when you think about the amount of money. It's significant and it's substantial. I think the assessment is problematic because it was undertaken during the pandemic and during a time when businesses could be devalued. And I think it's, it essentially boils down to cronyism. I think that Moreau enjoys a lot of support from business owners in this community. And because he received so much financial support and the Democratic Party received so much financial support from small business owners in this community and property owners that commercial properties were systematically devalued during the property assessment. And when the commercial properties were so severely devalued, it put the burden on homeowners. I'm sorry, I don't think that to answer one piece of... Yeah, but the issue of, sorry, the issue of redistricting is really critical and it brings to mind what is community? What is our community? Is it defined by geographical boundaries? Is that how the maps are being defined? Is it about neighborhoods of like-minded people who have children in the school system? There are many different ways to divide up communities or to create and build communities. And that's something that needs to be taken into account. The voting power of a district is also at play here. And when large groups of homeowners are cut off from one district and added to another, it's a kind of a voting block that can move to an entirely different district as a form of power. So this is about power. It's about representation and it's about establishing what a community is. And it's not just an award context. It's about the larger community of Burlington. Burlington as a community with the University of Vermont community. There have to be ways in which all of this can work. It's got to start with civil discourse. It has to start with representation on city council and holding the University of Vermont accountable for some things, but not forcing them to change their admissions policy. I don't think that's where it is. It's about civil discourse. Thanks, Dina. So I think three of us have all used the word community a lot. We keep saying community, community. But community really means togetherness. It means advocating for one another. For example, topic of BHS. So I'm really lucky because I've received two endorsements from the school commissioners, Kathy Orrell, the kids like also. And you know, I've had many conversations with people school commissioners about the cost of educating your kids. It should not be expensive. It was expensive for my mom of a child with five kids, but it shouldn't have to be like that anymore. Redistricting, you know, family-ness in Ward one is why I've lived there for over 10 years and I don't want to lose. I don't want people Ward one to feel like that has been taken away from them with redistricting. So how would that be moved forward? I'm going to keep talking to my community. I'm going to keep working with the people working in the housing. I'm going to keep door knocking to make sure that if I was city council and I get to put down my vote, my vote represents my community because I talk to them. And I think luckily I worked really close with state representatives. I really want to put more pressure on them to make sure that they are representing us and they are more power than city councilors. Let's make sure they're actually representing our community. And that's how I move, how I would be moving forward. Thanks. Other questions from the floor? Do we have anyone with a hand or a pun? No. I could ask one, I could ask one more quick one if I could. Yes. Yeah. I might I'll be brief or it'll express less frustration on the emotionality of the issue as redistricting. So around jobs, everyone says we need jobs because jobs are without jobs. You don't have income and you don't have the purpose that jobs bring you work brings you. What are some concrete things that the Burlington city council can do to help build jobs to help support job growth? In Burlington, not in Chittenden County, not in Milton, not in Brattleboro, in Burlington and frankly in private sector because we don't have the power over getting the state to come build another facility or something. So private job creation in Burlington, what are things that the city council can do and in your view hasn't really done adequately in the last several years? As a city council, what will you advocate for and take leadership on? Well, it was very disturbing today to hear about just so many layoffs around the country and global foundries more locally. But we're moving into a new era where we do need to think about this. What kind of jobs should be, you know, fostered in Burlington with new technology, the internet, remote jobs. This is all something that we have to talk about and I don't know the answer and I want to speak with experts as well as neighbors to find out more about that because you're right. In order for this community to thrive, there need to be jobs. And we're no longer a manufacturing society. The technical center is amazing, training people for jobs. The high school now is a way for people to become educated to create and to take jobs. So we're taking those steps and they're absolutely important and the University of Vermont of course is educating lots of young people who are the innovators as well. So we do need to think about what kind of jobs would benefit the community, would draw new people into Burlington and would work. So I want to bring a different angle which is a lot of people don't want to work. I am a union member for the Vermont State Employee Association and social workers, government workers, people with correctional facilities. There's not a lot of us so we are very, very overworked at the moment. And I was kind of like doing a little thinking research and I realized something. There's a shortage of trade workers so we want to build more housing. We need more people in trade. We have a lot of young people here. Why don't we, and that's one of the things I want to do as the Justice Councilor, start pushing forward the notion of an alternative to college. To young people, if you don't want to go to college, let's look at trade work options. If more young people get into trade work then they can start helping with the housing crisis, helping build homes. We need to really make sure that there's more trade workers, so there's more infrastructure, there's more housing being built. There is different ways to go about this and I think one of the reasons why I'm really excited to run is because I'm doing my research and I really want to decrease the shortage of people not working and I want to ask the question of why do they don't want to work? That's the real question. Why don't they want to work these jobs anymore? That's where we start. Jake? Yeah, thanks for setting me up, Dina. I appreciate the question because you gave me an idea, Dina, is Vermont Tech Center part of what is now Vermont University. The state has been looking at exactly what you were talking about, our paucity of trade workers. For me, it's like why do we as a society say that the person working at Cumberland Farms is less worthwhile as a human being than the person who works at Ohavi Zedek across the street? Why do we have that mentality? We need to overcome that kind of mentality. So, you know, as going back to your question, your many part question, thinking about the high school and how we fund it, maybe on Burlington Tech Center, there's an opportunity to have a relationship with Vermont Tech Center so that we can have our homegrown Burlingtonians learning trades in Burlington instead of having to commute to Williston taking an hour and a half bus ride there. So, I have very limited time left, so I'll say one thing that Burlington led in the past and can continue to lead on is our livable wage ordinance. We have a very large payroll and we have a lot of contracts and a rising tide lifts all ships. We can use that power to change the local job market. Alright, thanks. Last call for questions? I've got some other questions to ask here, but I want to make sure that... No, no, if you've got a question, I want to make sure people in the audience go first. Hi, my name is Rob, and my question is, candidates tonight have spoken a lot about representation and they've kind of identified different constituents, specific constituents that they would represent. And my sense is that if you represent Ward 1 and Ward 8, you represent all of Ward 1 and all of Ward 8. The other part of my thought is that we're here tonight because we recently, less than two years ago, chose a representative and they quit. In Ward 8, we recently, just several months ago, chose a representative and they quit. Can you, each of the candidates, talk a little bit and elaborate a little bit on what representation means to you and means to how you will proceed as our city counselor? Yeah, so curling my job, I am the youngest person there. I'm also the only that I've seen black female work in the courthouse. And also a lot of the cases I handle, as female workers, there's not a lot of us. So we get talked to down upon, kind of sending, called sweetie and honey. And, you know, when, like, so I represent the individuals who are so used to being looked down upon and kind of sending, seeing as other. And I represent them as around. And also, I know the fear with young people running is that, like, they're just going to quit or leave. And so when I was even asked to run, I initially was being asked to join the board of registered voters. My goal was to make sure there was fair election. And then I left committing to city council and I was given one week to win the party nomination, which is insane. But then I did it because I realized something. My community really, really matters to me and the different people in my community who I represent, like, they need a voice. Ever since I ran, there has been an increase of new American families that want to vote, that want to participate. But at the same time, there is that language barrier that I feel like I'm really trying to advocate. We talk about these issues, but there's not a lot. I think I might be the only new, like, the person directly born from another country here. You know, I represent Africans. I represent a lot of the immigrant population that I just traveled here, like, 10, 20 years ago. So that's why I'm running. Sorry, kind of spaced out, I guess. Paying attention, but getting lost in the thoughts. Well, I think it's an important question to ask because it's something that I've thought about for a long time. And, you know, I've actually talked to Dina about this, like, in our personal conversations. Sorry if I'm not looking at you, but you're behind a column, so I'll take the opportunity to address the camera. Yeah, so over the course of, like, the 13 years that I've been here, you know, I've only, I only first stood for election in 2020, and that was for inspector of election, very low stakes kind of a situation. And I've held this kind of idea that, like, one day I will be in a place where I feel like I can represent the community. But it's something that I take very seriously, and I've tried to prepare for and try to be very cognizant of my ability to fulfill the requirement. And so I think that is an important question to ask. But at the end of the day, I think it is important to recognize that we've all done this check-in with ourselves. And, you know, I think it's the right thing to take for granted that we have all done that check-in, and we all feel like we are in a place where we can meet the needs of the community in terms of commitment and preparation. Thanks, Margo. I absolutely hear what you're saying. You know, how to represent very different constituents. And I've been talking with a lot of college students, and their concerns are my concerns, too. And climate action is really, really important to a lot of college students. Women's rights, reproductive rights, women's right to privacy. You know, this collective idea that the Supreme Court is sort of, you know, doing things that we don't feel is right. It doesn't represent us. Housing, you know, having landlords be accountable to student populations so that they're not living in terrible circumstances. These are shared, you know, issues. They are shared concerns. And I think that you can represent long-term residents. You can represent the very young who need good schooling. You can represent elderly residents. My mother is 92, and she has different concerns. I've talked with constituents who are concerned about aging in place. Burlington has a new council on aging, and I think it's high time. So there are many different, there are diverse populations in each ward, and there are many different viewpoints. And I want you to represent many different constituents. Thanks. Any other questions? All right, I'm going to shift to a couple of other prepared questions. And then we'll, we have time I think for a couple more. If someone does come up with a question between now and the end, let me know. And then we'll have a summation from the candidates. One of the things that has come up a lot in recent months is the cost of housing. And so the pathways to property ownership in this ward, the district and the city are difficult. What actions would you advocate to make ownership more accessible to people across a variety of economic situations? And Jake, you're up first for this. All right. So I think in trying to highlight the differences between the three of us, Courtney may have neglected in her article. So I am going to clarify for the record that I like Dina also believe that renters should have right of first refusal in purchasing their unit. But I also think that there should be a strong and well funded tenants union that can support renters in doing that. Because as, you know, one of my neighbors had told me as we took a walk around the block, he had the opportunity. He was given the right of first refusal, but he was not in the exact specific situation that you need to be in to get a mortgage at that time. Six months later he was and he could have bought his unit. But because of when his landlord decided to sell it pigeon hold him into a position where he couldn't exercise that opportunity. I think that there are so many different things that we can do to address housing affordability and housing availability. I think so much is being done right now. I think so much more could be done. But generally, I think that we are all across the city pretty much on the same page. But something that we need to grapple with is that for a rental unit to be affordable for somebody, the person who owns it needs to recognize that they are going to get less money. So I'm glad that you're going after me because I'd love for you to address that from the perspective of a homeowner or a landlord. Well, I'd like to start by saying that we need more housing stock and Burlington geographically is quite limited. We do need to think for the future about building up. There's a phrase that density is green. And to have concentrated areas going up six floors, which we're not usually used to seeing here. Maintaining the natural beauty of Burlington, maintaining views of the lake, but also understanding that we need to create more housing for all different people. And the challenges in this kind of urban planning and doing it sensitively, finding enough land, doing it well. And right now there are many obstacles to building housing. And City Council needs to work with the mayor and homeowners and property owners who will be willing to collaborate to create areas that could. But right now the lack of housing and the lack of opportunities to buy and the expense of buying is pretty outrageous. It's very unusual. And there are some solutions that. So four years ago I had to write a 10 page honors thesis about from odd housing addressing the crisis 10 years ago it was not as bad as this. And then I had to write my solution and I address some of the ideology four years ago of building up. There is homes in Vermont, which I found in my thesis research. However, they're just not being renovate renovated fixed cleaned up. Like we can do that if we're able to start there like that is another option we have. Let's take the homes we have and make them better. But as we're doing that it ties to other factors like Champlain Housing Trust where I live. I publicly support Champlain Housing Trust because it gives homeowners a chance to have affordable homes. There was a 14% increase of buying a home in Vermont just from last year. Burlington has 63% renters and around 30% homeowners. That's kind of sad. We need more homeowners. We need to build, have families and homes. How do we do that? We support things like Champlain Housing Trust. We support renovating homes are already there. There's just need to be fixed up and we'll make sure when we redistricting we're not purposely leaving areas in unsustainable homes for low income families and saying we won't redistrict them because of party reasons. Like let's make sure we do that it's fair all across the board. Another couple questions. One is about public safety and our Police Commissioner Milo Grant recently draw a connection between specific types of crime rising and addiction crisis. Do you agree with that and how will you help neighbors feel safe now and fix the underlying cause in our neighborhood? Milo was talking recently from the Police Commission about how crystal meth has entered the community and it's affecting people differently from opioids and it's sort of driving different behaviors. This is something that we really need to pay attention to. It's the beginning of a different epidemic. It's why I don't necessarily support injection sites because the drug is changing and it has a different effect on people and it's also driving a lot of theft for people too. These issues are very much about our public safety and we need to stop the flow of drugs and the spiking of drugs was fentanyl. This is absolutely crucial to our public safety. I was picking up my daughter at school the other day and I saw three people who were hyperactive and paranoid and they looked scary. They needed a lot of help and I thought this looks like meth. I think that social services and social workers and police officers need to be trained specifically to understand some of these new problems that are happening with different drugs in our community. Last week I had the honor of being invited to share a list of husband co-housing. They shared a story about how co-housing is a very safe, loving community area where different people live. They had a public safety issue. They had a concern there. Their story showed that even in the safest places there are still going to be issues of safety and public concerns. Let's stay back to prohibition. We banned alcohol in 1910s, 1920s and that didn't really help so we had to look at new alternatives. Drugs is still going to be a factor in our town. It's going to be a factor in the state, it's going to be a factor in America. How to completely stop it, it's going to be really challenging and a bit unrealistic at times. So let's look at what we can do now. I had the honor of talking to one of some lives in another neighborhood and he talked about how he sees like needles and like things that people use to check themselves all over parks where children play. So I said, why don't we have more bins in these parks where children play so us as community can put them away, someone can come take them out, throw them in the trash, done, a little fix. I want to look at the little things we could do now. Supervised injection sites. If we know it's happening, it's going to take us long term to completely stop it. Let's get people who work in like the Howard Center and like different healthcare places to be pressed and making sure it's being handled properly while at the same time trying to decrease it. It really, it's step by step. Yeah, you know, I think people are generally pretty well trained. Like I could identify a tweaker like that like pretty, pretty easily, you know, tell you what drug they're on, etc. I do have some hesitation about safe injection sites because the low barrier aspect of it, when we first started talking about safe injection sites, it was assumed that it would be used by people going to do downers. They'd stay there until they were sober enough to leave. But because it's a low barrier thing, now we have to talk about like, yeah, there will be people going there to do uppers. And then are we just centralizing this community in one part of our community? So then people who are victimized by folks are, you know, also centralized. So I think it is kind of a nuanced issue. But I'd also say that, you know, a lot of people using meth are not tweakers who are going around all sweaty and like chewing their jaw off and things like that. Like a lot of people using meth are folks who hate their job or college students who realize it's a lot cheaper than Adderall. So I think that we need to also think about other resources like anonymous, safe ways to get maybe through the mail like fentanyl test strips for your supply. We just, we can't be vilifying it so much. Alright, thanks. I've got one final question before summation, and it's sort of a question for everyone. But what do you want Burlington to look like in 10 years? So it's a question for the audience and for our candidates here. So just first, we're going to take about 15 seconds for the audience to sort of silently think about what they want the city to look like. And then the candidates are going to give us their responses and you can see how well that matches up with what you were just thinking about. So I need 15 seconds. Nina, you're up first. Yeah, so 20 years ago I was a kid watching my new American family figure out how to raise five kids while dealing with the economics and racism that they've never experienced before. And then 10 years and then now I'm entering my 20s where I figure out career and making sure my career is being used in a way that supports my community. And then in a decade I'm going to have my own family. And now that's what I'm thinking about right now. That whatever I do now, if I were city council in the next decade, it's going to help what the next decade will look like which is where my kids are. I want my kids to grow up here. I want them to go to school here. And I want this place to look safer, more in harmony and more of a community like we already have it. We're already making such great strides. I don't want us to leave this thinking that oh my God, like there's so much issues and problems like we're really doing great work. And I know like my parents are even more proud to be here than they've ever been. They have good jobs that they worked so hard. So then I want in 10 years when my kids are growing up here to feel like wow, this place is so great. I'd be like, yes it is. And I'll tell them about this exact moment where we make sure that my kids in the future have a better Burlington to live in. Thanks, Jake. As I'm sure many of you reflected on, I don't know. I don't know what Burlington is going to look like in 20 years. And I think that's an important thing to talk about. With climate change, with global and national crises, and folks who are subject to natural disasters choosing to relocate elsewhere, we need to recognize that our projections for population growth could potentially be wildly off. So I think that it is important to have scalability built into all of our future planning for the city. We need to be prepared for Vermont to be a vastly larger place in terms of population. Because if we don't plan accordingly, we will have continued suburban sprawl, more cars, more people clogging the streets making it less safe for people on bicycles and pedestrians. We need to be realistic and we need to recognize that we don't know what the future holds and be prepared for all eventualities. My vision for our future is one where Burlington and maybe Winooski and South Burlington are surrounded by a wide swath of nature because we've figured out that suburbia is not great and we've figured out how to bring people into this community and make them a part of this community. Thanks. I do have a vision for Burlington in 10 years and that is that the lake would be clean. There would be no blue-green toxic algae. The wastewater treatment plants would be working at optimal levels and treating all the wastewater really efficiently without any spillage into the lake. I would love for the Superfund sites to be treated so carefully so that none of that toxic sludge goes into the lake. We have this high school. I see the high school working and kids being engaged and educated. Child care for everyone who needs it. Housing. A path to buy a home if you want to live here and raise a family. Burlington, I believe, is going to be a leader in climate action and will continue to be 10 years from now. I have an electric bicycle. It was stolen but then I got it back. The bike has everywhere. I've had a hybrid car for 18 years. I can't quite afford an electric car but I think everyone will be driving electric cars. The net zero road map will be activated and the built to zero homelessness issue will be eradicated so that there is shelter for everyone. That's what I see. Thanks. We're right at the end of questions and it's time for candidate summations. We're due. You're up first. I just proposed also that maybe you each have five minutes and see you didn't use your whole time. I guess in summation, so many things, I'm just going to try and address the things that I left on the table during the Q&A that we just had. One thing that comes to mind first and foremost is our goals for environmental conservation and efficiency and leading the world on net zero initiatives. I think in Burlington we need to talk more openly about the fact that we are double dipping. We're having our cake and eating it too. We can't keep telling ourselves that we are a net zero city with our energy production while we are simultaneously selling those green energy credits so that a coal fired power plant in Texas can continue to spew toxins into the air. So there are folks in our community who can afford to pay more money for their electricity. I think that we should give them the option to do that if they want to as a bridge to transition to actually owning our clean energy. Right now we don't. We own Burlington Electric Department, but we sell the greenness. And so if you look at our portfolio, it actually reflects that we create our energy with coal, which is... I would also say that there are initiatives in this community to bring some more community level control to our democratic processes. And I would be remiss if I did not use my remaining minute to plug those. We have Proposition Zero, which is... you should go and learn all about it, PropositionZero.org. It's really about Vermont scale democracy, town meeting day methods and a way for people to directly contribute to what happens in our city. And hopefully that will be on the ballot for you on town meeting day. Another ballot initiative that we hope to have before voters to change the city charter on town meeting day is Community Control of Police. So if you recall, City Council passed an ordinance to create a citizen oversight board in the Mayor vetoed it. There is a group of very dedicated individuals working hard to rectify that through a change to the city charter. We are very close to our petition signature goal. So please go to citizensforpoliceaccountability.com. The people for policeaccountability.com. All spelled out. Thank you. Thanks. Okay. Yeah. In summation, I would really like to be on City Council to be a part of this process of really nurturing and helping the city we love. There are so many things to be grateful for here. And we need to help our city. This is very important as a community. We need to make decisions for our future. It's a collective future. And we can live our individual lives with joy and take pottery classes and swim in the lake, you know. But we need to pay attention to the infrastructure of our city. And I'm so pleased that our community really saw the importance of the high school. It's a big responsibility, but it's a necessary building block as we move forward to create a thriving community that works for every single one of us. And it makes us want to live here, makes us want to stay here, and it will bring other people to Burlington as well. It'll benefit the university. We are in this together. We are on the same plot of land, but we are also in Vermont. And we need to respect that we are, you know, we need to take care of our monitors. We need to take care of the communities that really need our help. These have been tough times these last few years. We need to re-envision how to move forward so that everyone can prosper. Thanks for coming. Thanks, Dina. So I'm going to just take a different angle, kind of update everyone how what my campaign has been up to. Because I think it's really important that whoever is writing that we are really informing everyone about what we're doing since we were nominated. So last time I was here, I think Sharon said, Dina, did you help pass the bill? And I said, no. And I thought to myself, okay, that needs to change. I think that's really important to have a candidate who is part of the bill process or who has helped one. So I'm happy to say I'm working really close with the Rights and Democracy group to help pass a just cause eviction bill. COVID has shown us that anything can happen. If my parents were not health care workers, I don't know how we would have afforded rent. So my goal is to help pass a just cause eviction bill to really make sure tenants are really protected. And because 50% of cases that go through the courthouse are no cause eviction. So I really want to make sure we create a buffer to help prevent cases where tenants are kicked out without reason, without cause. I've been really trying to bring up the issue of public safety, but really adjusting directly neighborhoods. I've been attending door knocking, saying that with a lot of families, neighborhoods suggest about public safety, children, whether their kids feel safe to leave their home or not, and writing it down. As you know, I have some friends of school commissions, a school commission board with the BHS. I think hearing your concerns about how much that felt like a big cost to you. Like I feel like whenever a community brings up issues and gatherings, let's make sure we continue that same type of conversation. I'm happy to kind of discuss that more because that's a concern if I was your city council, I have to represent you, even if I may not agree. And I think my goal for the next few weeks is to really making sure that young people are out there voting, because I know they did not do that enough. And I'm really trying to push on that as well as new American families because they're really involved in these issues as well. And the fun part, Cindy, Dean and Chris, Senator Chris, is hosting a party on Friday. It's on front porch forum. It's going to be a welcome house party. There will be co-hosting and I will be there. So come Friday and let's just gather, talk about issues and you'll get to know me more. And of course, you too are more than welcome to join. So please, please come and I'll be around for any other issues and any questions you have. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for you guys coming and let's give our candidates a round of applause.