 Hey welcome to the pandemic version of Montpelier Civic Forum. Pandemic version being that we're going to talk about Town Meeting Day and all the issues. Pandemic means you can vote by Epson T Valet and most likely will vote by Epson T Valet. However, you will be, the polls will be available to you on Tuesday, March 2nd, which is Town Meeting Day. And we've got a whole series of these shows that are really good this year. We have Anne Watson in her annual view of Montpelier from the mayor's seat where she talks about projects that are ongoing, projects that might be pushed back and projects that look like they might not happen. We have Anne and Bill talking about the city budget, which is a really, really good show this year. And we have Jim Murphy who's come in to talk about the school budget and that's a good show as well. We also have school board candidates and we have a candidate for the park commission for a five-year term. And tonight, I have a candidate from District 3, Alice Schultz, who's coming to speak with us. Alice, welcome. Thank you. Welcome. Nice to meet you. Is this your first time running for office? Yes. When did you first start to think that you would want to be on our city council? Well, my friend from New York, he works in Senator Bailey's office. He's running for council at New York because the seat that he's running for, Richie Torres, was the councilman. He became the congressman so that seat was vacant. So he said, why don't you run and make a difference in your community? When was this? How many months ago? Well, it was about the summertime, I'd say. So you get enough time to gather your signatures? Yes. I got my signatures and everything. And you are running for District 3, which is what I term the Forgotten District. A District 3 is the district on the south side of the river. And the south side of River Street goes all the way up towards the treatment plant, and it goes all the way over towards the Volkswagen place, the wayside. It's a lot of territory. How long have you lived in District 3? About almost 11 years. What's District 3 like? If you could tell us, and just a few words, what's it like living in District 3, living on the other side of the river? Well, I've been living on the, I've been living by, by pine, first I lived in pioneer apartments and then I'd live, now I live on Prospect Street. So it's, it's kind of different, but it's nice, it's quiet, and I like it a lot. Now, District 3 is relatively newer housing. That's relative, of course. It's, it's post-World War 3 and post-World War 2 housing. Do you see any needs in terms of housing development funds on that side to help people? Yes, I do. I see, I see housing, we need more housing for people that are like, that are homeless, that are low income. As I, I see, I see in Vermont as working as a school crossing guard, I see a lot of the homeless people and sometimes I see, I see them sleeping on door fronts and there's no, there's no place for them here in Mount Piliar. So that's a big, that's one big topic, topic for me that I want to work on. Have you ever attended or, or, or listened on, on Orca or whatever to the homeless task force? No, I haven't. How would you, homelessness is, is obviously a problem that goes well beyond Montpelier. And it obviously goes and dovetails with the question of poverty. Yes, poverty is one of my, is one of the things that I stand on. In what way? Poverty for the people that, that are low income, they're living paycheck to paycheck. And those people that are disabled? You know, it's, it's funny because people talk about Montpelier in terms of it possibly evolving to a gated community simply because it's so expensive to move into Montpelier. It's expensive to purchase your way in. It's expensive to rent your way in. What is the plight of those who are struggling in Montpelier just for a foothold, just to rent? How do we deal with that with affordability in this town? Can you rephrase that question? Sure, sure I can. It's expensive to live here. How do poor people live in? It's simplest. How do poor people afford to live in Montpelier? It's, have we priced out people who are disabled or, or families that are trying to come in for our schools? Is Montpelier simply too expensive? Yes, I feel the rents are, are kind of expensive. I mean, it's thankful that they have, that some places they have low income housing where, where it's, where the federal government pays partial of the rent. But it's, it's still, it's still hard, like for the, for the people that, that have housing or like homeowners that are just, just barely making it. You know, I feel that, you know, that I feel that we really need to work on, on housing, work on ways to see how we're going to help the homeless, how we're going to work on ways to help the low income families. Because homelessness is a big priority. And I come from, I come from New York, so I'm from the Bronx, New York. So the homelessness here isn't as bad. But it's, it's, it's getting, it's getting, it's getting worse. You know, like I seen, I seen, working as a school crossing guard, I seen that it was a couple of years ago, there was this man that who was homeless, he was sitting on the bench and he was escorted by the library, because he was sitting by the library, because he was homeless. They have nowhere to go. And the reason that I'm, one of my issues about the homeless is, is that I've become friends with the homeless people, even before I even think about doing this. So I've been helping people and I give them, I give them resources because I know what it's like to struggle. I know what it's like to fight for, for, for yourself. As I have had a lot of struggles here in Vermont. In 2007, I had a, I had a child, a baby girl. And I lost my daughter. I did everything I possibly can to keep my daughter. So in 2009, I lost my child due to my disability. In 2014, I, me and my friend, we contacted the council on the disability in Washington, D.C. about my case. And they contacted, they contacted me back. They, they contacted Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera America came up to the state of Vermont and did a report interviewed me, Dr. Susan Yuan and DCF. And I was about, I was evaluated two times and qualified to be a parent. But the state had roadblocked, had roadblocked me. And this also has happened in 37 states. Now, I brought this to the attention of the senator here in Mount Pilia, because I brought it, I also brought it to the lieutenant governor, who's now governor. And he said, oh, go, he told me, go to the house. And this, and the sender. So I did. And my senator said, there's nothing we can do. She's adopted. Well, it's your fault. She's adopted. And they, and, and the state agencies like DCF, they made parents go through hoops. And I, and that's like a big topic. So what you're saying is that you've lived through the experience of struggle, of struggle, that marginal, that people on the margin who are struggling goes through, goes through. Yes. So basically you have an experience that others on city council would probably never have. Yes. And your goal is to broaden city council's experience. Yes. So that they bring someone on who actually knows homeless people. Yes. Someone who's reached out to work with people who are less privileged than we are, than most of us are. So you would represent a constituency. Yes. That's unrepresented on council. Yes. How would you see homelessness addressed? What, what could the council, what could our city do that we're not doing right now to help the homeless? Well, what we're not really actually doing is not looking how, how we can find solutions to help them, places where they can go that they need, they need to go. They need support mentally, emotionally. They need like shelter, which there's no shelter. There's a shelter in, in Barry, but it doesn't, it doesn't have that much room for people, for people to go into. So what are we going to do? What are we going to do to try to work to, to make this happen? So you, so you would be supporting the work of our homeless task force? Yes. As council person, every council person sits on a committee or sits with an organization. Could you see yourself being the council person who would sit on the homelessness committee so that their concerns are conveyed to the entire council? Well, that's, that, yes, but that's, that's just one, one of my topics. What would be another topic? Another topic was police and mental health. Well, that's a good time. That's a very timely topic. Yes. Could you give me an example of your concern with that? I can give you, I can give you an example. Oh, that'd be great. About four years ago, my friend, he was my neighbor. I wasn't living at the building, but I lived, I lived at that building that one before I moved to Prospect. The Pioneer Street. Pioneer, yeah, Pioneer Apartments. I lived in, well, my friend Mark Johnson, he had mental illness and the cops, there was, there was a cop on the scene and they shot, they had shot Mark Johnson on the bridge. Now, there is, there was no, there was nobody, there was no crisis work alongside. Now I feel I can resolve that problem by having a meeting with the new chief. Chief Pete, Brian Pete. Yeah. Chief, what, he's not, I know he's not a commissioner. No, he's a chief. Police Chief Brian Pete. He took over from Police Chief Anthony Fakos, Tony Fakos. Okay. The police chief, I feel I can have a meeting with him. I also spoke to a case worker that I know in, in Washington County that said that she would be, she knows people on the, on the crisis line that be willing to speak to me about it, that I can go and speak to. And I wouldn't, I'd fight because I feel that, you know, these people, these police officers, they're too fast to shoot people or to tase the people that have mental illness. A couple of points on that. One is that when he was shot was very early in the morning. And I don't believe that the case workers would have been in their offices at 5.30 in the morning. But on the second side, we don't use tasers in our town. The police do not have tasers and they're not authorized to use tasers. Now that happens perhaps elsewhere, but that's not to say that the police have all the sensitivity that they could. I take it that you support the social worker that, that the police have now working with them, that we have a social worker position that we share with Barry so that in difficult police situations, the policeman is not the only person there representing the law, the force. There's a person who's representing the human emotional side of that. Do you support that? The social worker? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. It depends. Could you elaborate a little? Okay. I would have to get to know what, because I dealt with the social workers with DCF. So like I'm a little bit hesitant about social workers, you know, because some of them are not really supportive. So I'd have to get to know the person first, get to speak to the person. I can't say, well, it'd be good for this social worker. I don't, I don't really know. I don't really know her, you know. So I would have to get to know who she is, how she would be helping the community, how she would help like people with mental health issues. Do you feel that the police have a sensitivity in our town to all people, including those who have mental health issues? Do you feel that there's more training needed, or do you feel that when a police person is coming towards you, do you feel any anxiety or? Not, not to, I don't feel no anxiety, because I haven't had any experience with the police, you know. So for the most part, our police do not appear to be threatening to you? To me. But to others, that might be the case? Yes, that might be the case. Like to, like to, to people of color in this, in the community, around people. What could the police do differently that would gain the trust of people of color or other people in the community that don't trust the police as much now? Have more activities to represent, to like support the community. Like What would be a good activity in your mind that they could be doing? Like the, like, um, I don't know, we have here in Mount Pilly, the Boys and Girls Club or some, or some kind of, some kind of thing that they can engage with the community. Not just to show that you're in blue and white, you're in blue and white uniform. But to show that you're engaged as part of the community. Yes. As a piece of the fabric of the community. Yes. The police, a couple of years ago under Tony, and I think it's Tony Fakos, the police chief. I believe it's the same under police chief Pete. Has the policemen out in the public, sometimes they, they're on State Street during summer, and they were before the pandemic at least, having handing coffee out to people. And just on the street having coffee with people and talking to people. Is that the kind of thing that you would support? Yes. Yes. Because I think some, a lot of people feel that, feel the police is a threat to them. But you're for humanizing the place. Yes. And integrating them. If they can, if they were willing to work with the people and try to listen to them and understand them, then I would be for the police. Is there any, in your mind, is there any circumstance in which there could be a justifiable police killing? Mark, Mark, Mark Johnson, you felt wasn't. Yes. But is there a circumstance where there might be one that is, perhaps self-defense? Well, I feel that there are ways not to, a person should not be killed. There are other things that they can do. To defuse the situation. To defuse the situation. Not shoot somebody to kill them. Like they could shoot them, but not where they would die. Defunding police. That's a call that's been put before the City Council recently. We're not the only City Council that's heard that's going on across the nation. What is your feeling on defunding the police? Well, I don't feel that defunding the police would really help the situation because then there'd be more, there may be more chaos. We would have to see how would we be able to work with the community to make so things, so these issues, these topics that are happening can be resolved. Our downtown is pretty much shut down now. It's a low ebb due to COVID. Do you see our downtown coming back as it was before the pandemic? No, I don't. But right now I don't really see that because I see a lot of places closing because Montpelier is very expensive. The rents are really expensive. With places closing downtown, family-owned businesses, and you see the vacancies and the like, do you feel that there's a way of bringing that back and getting new businesses in there? And does our community really depend on that, on having those stores completely filled? Yes and no, I'm not positive. Yes, some people depend on those stores, but then like as now we have stores online, so it's not that hard for people, you know. But it's hard for the business people that are trying to make ends meet, and that's considered in the poverty section where these businesses are trying to make these ends meet, but the the rents are so expensive they can't they can't meet their needs. Your job is to be a school crossing guard. Yes. Which street do you cross people? I cross people on um on school street right by the library. And I also um I also was a crossing guard in New York City, so I've never experienced being the crossing guard. I almost hate to ask this. Are drivers polite to you? Do they actually stop when you ask them to stop? Yes, I carry an electric whistle. I had a whistle, but now I carry an electric whistle because as a school crossing guard in New York City, I work for the NYPD and we had a whole uniform and it included a whistle. And that's another issue that I had about that I wanted to talk about with Mount Piliar. Oh please do tell us. We have we don't have street lights cross street lights to cross traffic lights. I mean we don't have that and that is that's been a real big problem. We don't have um the light in here Vermont is horrible. It's really dark. You can't even see the street's conditions aren't really good. Like on the sidewalks there are cracks and and I'm consider it I consider the people who can't see who are blind you know or the wheelchair or the wheelchair. We need we need to see how can we how can we fix the situation and not just pat not just put a little band-aid where they patch up things. Let's stay on the corner of school and Main Street. When you're out there and you have kids waiting or kids are approaching and you're going to go out first of all what's an electric electric whistle? Electric whistle I carry it has three different um it has three different speeds makes three different sounds. Oh so you don't have to blow into the electric whistle. No. Okay I I'm seeing they're wondering what is an electric whistle that you blow into. Oh no it's something I press and I find that really helps to stop the cars I blow it I keep pressing really loud because I notice when I I misplace my my electric whistle for a a couple of days and I would go outside some of the cars wouldn't stop. So the electric whistle really does work for you? Yes I eventually had regular whistle but now since the pandemic you can't have that you can't use that so I spoke to the police department somebody at the police department recommended that I get one of those whistles so I he said he's substituted at a college game and he told me to get that and it's been working really great. Are you the only crossing guard with an electric whistle? Yes I was the only crossing guard. You ought to recommend it to others you know. Yes. Do you feel besides keeping the children safe do you feel that keeps you safe? Yes because this is a real dangerous job. Now they're the same children every day walking by for the most part? Yes for the most part yes. Do you know them by name? No. But you know them by sight and they know you by sight? Yes. So there's a trust built between their school crossing guard and themselves that they will indeed be kept safe from traffic? They know that um that they will be kept safe the parents love me in union. That's fantastic. How do you know the parents love you? How do I know? Well do they say thank you? Yes and these kids here the parents and the kids here in New York here in Vermont are much much nicer than New York. I'm not gonna I am not going there please I'm not trafficking in stereotypes about New York children or New York people. But they always they always tell me thank you thank you we're so thankful that you're here you know. That must be so affirming that you have a job where people thank you yes for doing your job. And even the community thanks me even the community will thank me which is so wonderful you know. So I'm out there I'm out there I'm not just I'm out there people see me they see me working in the community they see me fighting with different things I talk to the parents I tell them about what's going on like the situation with my with me and my my child and they had no idea that this is going on. Now how would they? Yes and my story my story went national wide. Right right right on Al Jazeera. On Al Jazeera. It seems to me that you have one of the jobs that's in a sense a very public job but isn't recognized as a very public job and you have a very important job yes that isn't necessary except for by those parents and by those children and the community the community and the community recognize that in all weather you are out there I'm out there all weather just like the just like the post the postman. What is the getting to the weather what is the worst weather to be a school crossing guard? When it's icy and when it's really bad out there and snowing. Now if school is closed for the day let's go into if when we had the hockey pandemic in the school and they closed down the school for a week you know because they had a COVID breakout there would you still be required to get out there and be the guard? Well because it was only for one for one school so it was only uni elementary and I cross I cross main street middle school and I get in the morning I get the high school students so I still I'm still required to work. What time does the school crossing guard come out to work? About seven thirty. Okay at seven thirty how dark is it during the darkest part before the solstice in December before it starts to get light again what is it like at seven thirty? Well it's not too dark it's a little it's a little harder to get get it it's a little darker there. And then the morning shift is seven thirty to what? Seven thirty eight thirty. And then the afternoon shift is from one from one to two since now since of the COVID day I only go to school five hours a day. Now how long have you been school cross guard? For about well not eleven years because I stopped two two years before so I did it from 2010 2015 that I took like two years off and let's see it was 2018 when I came back and I know the parents loved the parents and the school loved me because when I left they gave me a big they had like a big picture of me. Oh that must have been heart-rending. Yes and a matter of fact also with my where I'm working at right now when I left that spot because I was working there in the in the morning in the afternoon I was I was at the union elementary so when I was at when I left that spot there was there was nobody there for two for two years. That's not good. So they were really happy that the parents wanted wanted me back so they were really happy about that and I'm really take my job really seriously. Oh well they wouldn't love you if you didn't. Yes. Now you're at an extremely important spot for guarding children because that's where Kellogg Hubbard Library is and you have the kids on the lawn. Do you keep those kids in the lawn and kind of your side eye just to make sure that none of them are chasing balls into the street or doing anything incredibly dangerous and stupid? Yes and like sometimes I'll watch them to see make sure nobody's bullying or hurting anybody. Let me walk you through that. I had a child at one time who used to be on that lawn as everybody has a child who was at that lawn that lawn at one time or another if you see a bullying incident do you intervene do you do you interject yourself do you do you say hey or anything on that level? Well I haven't seen I haven't seen one there yet. Because this is Montpelier. Because this is Montpelier or like for example I give you an example I saw some kids they look like they were rough playing so I saw the parent and I met I saw one of the parents and I mentioned it to him that so he said I go I'll go and speak to him and see what's going on. Well that's good I mean you're kind of the mother hen of that corner. Yes and I took a course through the universal course on bullying middle school middle school bullying. Oh did you? Yes. Who was conducting could you talk a little bit about a course on middle school bullying I mean that you should have a degree in middle school bullying that that's such an important topic. I took it through the universal class. Was that your choice or was it recommended? It was my choice. That's great. What made you choose to take a course in middle school bullying? I mean that's so important you know to the esteem of children not to be bullied. Yes. What made you what what all of a sudden made you say hey I'm going to take a course in middle school bullying? I like it to learn learn about you know about all different types of things like bullying because I was as as I was a child I was bullied. Well and and again do you have empathy? Yes for children who are bullied. Yes. But the idea that you went out of it did anyone know that you took that course did anyone say hey that's that's praise you for taking a course? Um yes I go to ABE and they're really having that I've been I've been taking all these courses I also been taking a course on elder elder advocacy. Oh that's fantastic. Where um where I also I also fight for the elderly people too. How do you fight for the elderly? Okay. Now of course keep in mind I am the elderly how are you fighting for me? Well okay I'll give you things I'll give you a good an example one of my neighbors she's this eight she's a senior and she's disabled well there was a parking spot at prospect apartments that were available and it had a handicap a handicap sign so she wanted that she wanted that spot but um the Mount Pilla housing authority they had pulled they had pulled that that sign out so I got in contact with the disability rights Vermont. Oh that's great and and they were were you able to win? They were they were able to help her. That's fantastic and and also um I can share another thing about please do about um my daughter. I went on this webinar in 2020 and there was two senators from Oregon on this webinar and it was called passing legislation so um it had a map of all the states that passed legislation pending pass legislation about what oh I can't I can't remember exactly what it was it was a house it was a house bill but what I'm trying to get I'm trying to get to the point where Vermont comes into this this situation so um I find out that our state because this also had something to do with my daughter and my rights so I find out that our state had passed this house bill so I get I take that a picture of the house bill I um I call I tell I call disability rights Vermont again I call Ed Paikwin and he goes wow how'd you find that out so I told him how I found it out because I feel Vermont sweeps things onto the rug so he goes he goes and looks and looks for the bill looks for the house bill I don't remember the house bill off my head off the top of my head I have it on my phone so I can't tell you so he gets he gets the information and he finds it and I've been trying to get in touch with somebody from the parenting group parenting representation because they didn't break the law they didn't follow the bill you're following in your own advocacy yes so I've been advocating not just for myself I've been advocating for I've been advocating for the people that's fantastic yes as you would if you were sitting on console yes yes that's great you know I really want to thank you not only for being here tonight but for stepping forward to run for city council because most of us would never think to give up themselves and sit through the city council meetings and sit and prepare themselves for the city council meetings and yet you stepped forward to say I would do this for my neighbors in district three that that's great you know as you're not the only one of course there's someone else who's running against you there is a city council person running in district two there's two running in district one but some years we don't have anyone run but but the the people who are incumbents so I salute you for your civic engagement and doing this thank you so very much and thank you for being here with me thank you for having me and thank you for watching this show and I hope that you'll watch the other ones including Anne Watson talking about the city from her perspective as mayor Bill and Anne talking about the city budget Jim Murphy speaking about the school budget and all the candidates for city council and for the school board and for the parks commission again what's real important isn't only to watch these shows and you can watch them not only on cable but you can watch them on the youtube channel but to get out there and vote and by getting out there that might be going to another room and filling out a ballot and sending it in absentee but participating in town meeting day it's extremely important thank you so very much good evening