 All right. Hey everyone welcome to the wards two and three neighborhood planning assembly meeting I'm Roxanne muse. I'm on the steering committee, and I'll be facilitating this meeting So our first order business is to introduce the steering committee members tonight we have me we have Molly We have Shelby and Jess who are both in the kitchen um we have Erika and Charlie is All right right there, and I think that's all we have here tonight from the steering committee All right, and we just want to say we are always welcoming steering committee members especially word two is Where we need more from but also after redistricting it'll be this kind of generally more downtown folks So if you're interested let one of us know You can always Make a request for what we talk about here You can do that online at the city's website CEDOS website You can email us you can talk to us whatever you'd like Our next meeting is Thursday, June 8th. Our meetings are always a second Thursday of every month right here usually And We have a lot of ways to stay connected with us website We're on Instagram and Facebook sort of and Yeah, YouTube CCTVs web web page And our email address as well So one thing we've been starting to do at these meetings to create a little more community is to go around and introduce ourselves You don't have to say much just name your ward and Yeah, that's about it Feel free to tell us a little more So we're just gonna go around the room and Charlie is starting out with the mic. Hey, I'm I'm Shelby glass I'm in Ward 2 and I live on Manhattan Drive Thanks for coming everyone Hi, my name is Christopher. We live on Manhattan in Lafowen. I'm Mark Hi, my name is Jimmy. I'm in Ward 2. I'm Josie. I live in Ward 2 on North Winooski Avenue Hi, I'm Madeline and I live on Murray Street right next door. Hi everybody. I'm Molly I live on the Fountain Street and I'm on the steering committee Hi, my name is Jesse. I'm here to present tonight. I live a hundred feet from Ward 2 and 500 feet from Ward 3 But not neither one. I'm Jacob Ward 3 Hi, I'm Ivy. I live on Park Street in Ward 3 I'm Trav. I'm on Hyde Street Ward 2 I'm Charlie. I live in Ward 3 on Rose Street. Hi, I'm Jonathan. I live in Ward 1 and I'm presenting tonight Hi, I'm Elena. I live in Ward 2 I'm Emily. I live in Ward 3 Hi, Mila Grant Ward 3 City Council for Central District or as I like to now say the historic north end. Thank you Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm in Ward 3. I'm Stephanie also in Ward 3 Allie, and this is Finley Ward 3 Hi everyone, Joe McGee. I live on North Hamplain Street, and I'm the City Councilor for Ward 3. I'm Barbie Ward 3 I live on St. Paul Street downtown Jesse Warren. I'm visiting from the south end in Ward 5 actually I'm Wyatt. Don't tell anybody but I'm from Winooski Sarah Hernandez Tim, and I'm the new public information and community engagement officer with the Burlington PD. Thank you for having me. Hi, my name is Tevin. It's like Evan with a T. I'm also visiting from Ward 5, but I used to live on Interveil Ave. So Coming home, I guess Hi, my name is Carol. I live in Ward 3. Folks, I'm Erica Faulkner. I'm on the steering committee, and I live on Decatur Street I'm Marfa. I live in Ward 3 on Blodgett Street I'm Tara, and I'm in Ward 2 on Spring Street. I'm Lucy on Blodgett Street, Ward 3 I'm Brian Pine. I live on Crowley Street in Ward 3 I'm Jacqueline, and I live in Ward 3. Robyn, I live on Interveil Avenue, Ward 2. Hi, I'm Lauren. I live on North Ave on Ward 3 Jose, Ward 3. I'm Travis. I live in Ward 3 I'm Jason. I live in Ward 3 on Roe Street. Megan, I live in Ward 2. All right. Thanks, everyone. That was really nice. Also, this is Sam. He's at all of her meetings, works for CEDO All right, so next up is public forum Who would like, well, first of all, when you speak, please say your name and your word Who would like to start? All right, so as I said, I'm visiting up from Ward 5 just to make an announcement about an event that my organization is hosting at the end of May, so May 31st, 6 p.m. in City Hall, Contois Auditorium. It's a public information session on an idea called Citizens' Assemblies and Citizens' Assemblies are basically a different kind of democratic process, kind of similar to what NPAs are in the sense that they are a You know, this was created and it's a different way for us to get together and talk through things and it's done a lot for our community and Citizens' Assemblies are sort of in that family of ideas, so what a Citizens' Assemblies is really quickly is basically you choose a panel of people from the community by democratic lottery, so there's no election It's all done by lottery but you make sure that that group is representative of the demographics and the diversity of the community so it turns out to be much more representative actually of All the different walks of life in the community than a typical election and then you ask them to learn deeply about an issue and Then deliberate have really you know long talks about how we how do we want to deal with this issue and then offer policy recommendations to decision-makers could be the city council could be Could be the state legislature or even the federal government So they're a very promising thing that has been organized nearly a thousand times across the world over the past decade For example, France just just did a Citizens' Assembly on assisted dying how to deal with that So it's really good for heart issues There was one in recently in California on what to do with this the Petuluma fairgrounds The community couldn't figure out what to do with that so they organized a Citizens' Assembly on that So so we're hoping hosting event to kind of introduce this to the community and think about how we might be able to use it in Burlington we think it's a really awesome tool and real quick there's going to be two speakers so the first speaker is going to be The original conceiver actually of the NPAs in Burlington, which is terry baritius So back in the 80s he helped create these and now he's kind of moved on to Citizens' Assemblies as as sort of a continued thinking about how to innovate democratically So he's going to be speaking and he's become like a globally known theorist on Citizens' Assemblies. It's pretty cool And he lives in Burlington and also we'll have another person Alex Ranieri who is one of the most Leads one of the organizations that is the most accomplished in terms of organizing Citizens' Assemblies in the US There have been very few Citizens' Assemblies in the US, but Alex Ranieri has kind of been involved in most of them So they're both going to be speaking May 31st So and this organization by the way is democracy creative I'm here with my colleague Tevin who kind of is my co-conspirator there So we're going to stick around and we'd love to talk to anyone afterward about that And we're going to pass out these flyers May 31st at Contoy's 6 p.m. Citizens' Assemblies. Thanks Who would like to speak next? Again, I'm Josie Really cool to be here. I've been meaning to come to one of these NPA meetings for a while So I'm glad to finally make it And I'm also here with Madeleine to make an announcement. We recently got some Community funding to put on this art festival and it's happening in the north end on May 20th And it would just be really great to see you all there We have some flyers that will leave on this table if anyone wants to take some or take a picture Yeah, thanks So the festival is called Plex like Josie said it's next Saturday May 20th starts at 6 p.m. and it goes till late and We really want to make a space for some Weird experimental oddball art. We have over 70 really awesome artists a lot of who are from words 2 and 3 So we're super excited to feature them And yeah, please do take some posters We're excited to hopefully see you next Saturday. Thanks Thanks so much. Is that the community funding that our NPA did or another great awesome And anyone else moving on Sort of on time We have a candidate for the steering committee who step forward Lauren Ebserall, so I might have typed it up wrong. Lauren, are you here? The last time I saw you had sunglasses. Yeah, so Lauren's just gonna share a bit about herself and then You're in Ward 3. So after that we will take a vote On if Lauren can join the steering committee Which that vote will be open to anyone who's in Ward 3 since we're to Combined words go for it. Thank you. Hi everyone again. My name is Lauren. I live in Ward 3 On North Ave. I am a newer resident of Burlington. I am an even newer resident of the Old North End I was previously in Ward 8 where I served on the steering committee there for about a year So I'm very excited to be in the Old North End and I love the dinner that we have. It's awesome So a little bit about myself. I work for a scientific company as a product manager So I do have a remote job, but I also own a business with my husband and our friend If you've been to truck stop now the south end get down or the BTV market You might recognize Casa Beria. So that is our taco stand. So we are business owners in the area But I really love community engagement and I love coming to these NPA meetings and seeing the engagement that we have and That's why I'd really like to get involved and do more and see how we can continue to reach all the Different people in our community. I think it's really beneficial that we have two words together And I love the Old North End and seeing all the diversity in the Old North End and how it comes through in the NPA So I'd love if you would consider me to join the steering committee Thanks so much And for those who don't know that what the steering committee does is we basically create the agendas for these meetings and we think about things like outreach and How to get yeah, I think more people how to organize ourselves when to meet all that and So I guess to do this Um Can you all anyone who's in word three just so we know the total word three people can you raise your hand? So it's about half And keep your hand up if you want to vote to have Lauren join the steering committee Great You're in All right, and next we have a report out from Tara Um, so Tara represents word to you To the community development block grant program So maybe you can share kind of what that is. I'm a visual kind of person So I put some slides together just to help me organize my thoughts like in a second so I can share that So I'm sharing my screen, but if not, I'll just talk us through. I don't want to make you guys wait too long Well, we don't have slides for tonight. Sorry about that a little new to joining on zoom, but um, I can just talk it through So I am the ward to rep for the community development block grant and That is a federal program, which is administered by HUD Which provides funding for local communities to address the roots and consequences of poverty so each year Burlington is allocated funds to Accomplish that mission and the city so the city of Burlington solicits applications from community organizations and city departments That you know can target the priorities identified in a notice of funding availability So that's the the kind of key document of any kind of grant program where they're looking to accomplish some sort of Set of goals and it outlines what the Conditions of the grant are what the metrics are and spells out all of the eligibility criteria and the application process so the advisory board is a A group of citizens half of which are Nominated by their NPAs. So I'm one of the representatives nominated through the NPA There's some other representatives appointed by the mayor And I'm not sure there might be some Other type of representative there so what we do is we go through those funding applications and we Make the funding recommendations the basic funding recommendation and we bring that over to the mayor and the mayor reviews it If he signs off and he usually does it goes over to the city council Where they approve the yearly action plan associated with those grants So Kind of general timeline of that the notice of funding availability is released in December So if there's any community organizations who are interested in getting involved in that process for next year Those will be released probably in the December timeframe The application deadline is in January. So as a committee or an advisory board. We met in March To make those recommendations so CEDO does kind of a baseline eligibility review just to make sure that the Community organizations can actually qualify and be eligible for those grants and then as the citizens representatives We look at their applications and we Determined what their What their goals are with the missions of the organization how well that aligns with the goals and the poverty reduction measures you know associated with the community development block grant program and We make those funding recommendations. So For this year, they're broadly broken out into two separate groups So there's the public service applications and there are development applications And the main difference there is public service tends to be service oriented It could be addressing People who have needs related to being unhoused or substantive abuse issues the development tends to be Infrastructure-related so buildings either building new buildings renovating them reducing blight within the neighborhood so of I think we had 15 applications nine were public service related and the applications requested a total of $483,000 a little over that and all we had was a hundred and ten thousand to allocate So it's it's a tough call because these are all really great community organizations doing excellent work, but there's just limited funding so Tough decisions to be made on the development side of things They requested eight hundred thousand and then again. We only had two hundred and fifty six so There's kind of different approaches when we're thinking through how to fund these organizations one is In the past have they met the metrics that they've sought out to achieve another is Are those services duplicated within the community like if they didn't get this funding Would those services just completely be gone because that's something that we wouldn't you know, obviously want to see happen so All of this information about the process about the applications and the action plan it's all publicly available on CEDO's website So if you just search CEDO Community development block grant or CDBG You should be able to find it pretty easily and it will spell out all of the application timelines If anybody is affiliated with a local community organization who's interested in applying It has the application so you can see what work is done and It's it's really interesting because I think a lot of people especially folks. I think we're gonna show up in an MPA Know a lot of the good work that this these community organizations are doing But it's it's just nice to see as much as we kind of see problems out there people are really working on solutions So yeah, the the action plan That we are against the funding allocation that we recommended has been approved by the mayor and on the 15th So four days from now. There is a public hearing associated with that. So if you're interested in learning more about the The groups that have been funded what programs that supports you can look at the action plan Which is available on CEDO's website and if you're interested in participating in the public hearing Where that will be reviewed that will be May 15th And my last pitch So each representative has a two-year term limit. So there's always turn over like I said half of them are Nominated by the NPAs so I'll probably stick on for next year But I'm not sure Ward 3 where that is but I know that the NPAs at some point will be kind of looking for new volunteers So if this was interesting for anybody, it's a really great experience. I would recommend it So our what we have next is a presentation and Q&A and kind of what we want it to be somewhat with the library So we have two people from the library. You can come sit up here and we'll get you mics Yeah, do you guys have a presentation or just kind of talking Great What I may do is have a little bit of the beginning hand it over to you and see what time it is We are this is like choreography. I Want to tie I'm my name is Jonathan Chapel so cool. I'm the president of the Friends of the Fletcher free library A little closer. Okay. Thank you My name is Jonathan Chapel so cool. I'm the chairman of president of the Friends of the Fletcher free library The Friends is a private non-profit all volunteer organization dedicated to the support of the Fletcher free library The Friends receives receive money from donations annual appeal Grants and of course book sales, and I hope you're all familiar with book sales that we do if you're not We'll get you set up because we love to sell books and we love people to buy books We saw we besides book sales we sell books online We have an eBay presence and we also have a online website Where we sell books that you can buy online and then pick up at the library at the at the main desk I've got I got words here that I'm crutching on instead of just vamping The the money that we raise Emer can tell you more about the money that we raise what what it goes to but it's used for adult youth and teen programs Exhibits special services and professional development It includes the early literacy outreach program, which you may be familiar with Museum passes and there's actually a fund to support innovation from the library staff So if the live if a member of the staff has a great idea of something to do there's funding for that And all those all those decisions are at the discretion of the of the director of the library Mary Danko and her absolutely amazing staff as as a Volunteer organization, we're always looking for more volunteers a little like the steering committee here and And we love to have people join us and help us make the library even better than it is We work on a variety of activities And the level of commitment can arrange from an occasional hour or two a month or every six months to working a few hours a week We have stuff for everybody, but we really love to have people to get involved We're currently partnering the city market So member workers can get credit for volunteering for say at sales And we are applying to get all volunteer work to count as credit at city market as member worker credit And if I can just make it there's a small list of people that we're looking for We would love to have one or two people join our finance committee and our finance committee Will probably meet once a month So it might take two hours a month an hour prep and an hour to be at a meeting And it may sound like you know button down the ties and stuff like that But all we need is is people who can think a little bit critically. We'll do some some policy work We'll look at the books every month, but it's not heavy-duty accounting or business It just takes you know a sensible mind, which I know you all have We're looking for somebody to manage our eBay store and that would be a couple hours a week That would be a more serious investment of time So if you know how to do eBay and you have a couple hours to spare or you're incredibly bored We have some opportunities. It's not running the store by yourself because we have two or three other people involved But it would be kind of be like the shopkeeper We're looking for support with communication and that might be an hour a week something like that and communication Might be writing a newsletter. It might be just Outreach to our front porch forum senders We have people in many of the neighborhoods for front porch forum that we that we ask to send out Messages every once in a while. I hope you see some of them and If you can think of something else you want to do for the friends We would love to talk we just love support one other thing One other person we're looking for is we're looking for a very part-time bookkeeper And that would be somebody who would bill us for time work. It would not be a volunteer position It would actually I I don't want to call it a paid position because we don't have any employees But if you invoice us, we'll write you a check for the time you spend And I I'm kind of imagining that work to be about 10 non stressful hours a month to do that an hour or two a week Um And you know there there may be somebody here who Has done it for a career and doesn't want to do it As a career anymore, but might want to spend a little time doing it somebody can just help us Enter it's basically entry. It's a bookkeeping entry um Let me know if you have any interest in these roles And I can give molly if molly's doing the minutes I can give her all the information about links and so forth so that you can um You can look it up in the minutes And that's what I got Thanks, john I realized we did kind of do it a little backward because I'm going to talk about Why the library is so great and everything we do that would make you want to be a friend of the library And I hope that it will I do want to point out that we as the Fletcher free library is about to celebrate its 150th birthday We haven't always been in the same building There was an original library on church street that no longer that building no longer exists Um, but we have been in our current building in two different transitional time or two different times The Carnegie building and then the addition in the 80s. We've been there for over 100 years for sure And we're ready to celebrate on july 15th from 12 to 330. That's a saturday Please come on by the library and celebrate with us 150 years of an amazing library Um, and I'm of course glad to be here to talk about the library. I could go on and on and I'll try not to um, but I can gush forever about the library because um, we We do so many things you're aware of but we also do a lot of things you're probably not aware of The library kind of reminds me of this community center in this building doing many different things for many different people And constantly innovating and thinking about what the community needs and changing as the community changes Um, the library's core mission as you might know is is education lifelong learning um cultural education and enjoyment for all of the members of the burlington community and beyond um, but we also Have an open to all community policy, which is uh, or or ethic and value Which also kind of reminds me of this space. So you maybe share that value as well We don't charge anything To be in the space that's one we're one of the last spaces you could go and not pay to play You can hang out there all day as long as you're following the rules You can you can sit you can work you can read you can hang out with your friends You can eat at the tables outside or you can eat on the third floor on a rainy day Um, it's a great place to be it's bright and airy And there's plenty of space for all of our citizens to come in and hang out We also have the new north end branch now. I don't know if any of you are familiar with that That's just over the line in uh in the new north end We identified that there was a need there that there was a gap in services for folks who For whom getting to the library might be an all day affair Because it's so much further out, but that's your library to the branch So if you're going to beach bites or just biking down to the end of the bike path, you can swing by there That's your library also Um, we are a a place where people can come and see other people We know we have a plague of loneliness in our society And we are a place that combats that that has built in protective features so that we can become more um a more Healthy and well-being aware community And I think that's probably something that all of you think about too and that's why you're here engaging in the mpa um We are always asking what does our community need And trying to trying to get there some way or another Currently we have something called the community partners desk, which is a great example of this um way of innovating Every just about every wednesday in the main reading room community partners come in tables such as age well And the howard center um and a veterans outreach organization We keep adding new ones all the time and they their intent is to meet people where they're at And we have the space for that so sometimes we ask what do we have the other organizations need to make them be able to do their Work better for our community For instance during the pandemic we were a vaccination site We've been giving out of course covid tests the whole time We give out harm reduction bags for folks who are struggling with opioid addiction And they're loved ones who care and want to have something that might be crucial in a crisis moment We um give out gun locks for folks who want to make guns in their household a little safer Um, so again, we are always thinking of how can we how can we engage? What more can we do so that we can make our community healthier? um and To make our better future for all of us here We're always learning of course we reach out to the community. I hope we do it well I think we do it well and ask what do you need? What do you need? What do you need? We we try to we try to guess sometimes We heard whispers in the early pandemic that folks were having challenges with Internet access that there was there were certain folks who Didn't get that didn't get that um support that they needed maybe they didn't have children in the home So they weren't accessing the resources that had been identified for people with children And so we started lending out we got grants we put in a program in place and we started lending out laptops and hotspot kits We've continued that program. It's been a very good success And we now have well golly We have 20 chromebooks. We have Eight laptop and hotspot kits and we have I think eight functioning hotspots so people can literally check out the internet at the library Um So you can see we're always trying to figure out What next what next we're kind of there's no dust on us at the library um and I think we also have an ethic of Care and compassion and treating everyone with dignity that they deserve and respect um That is a core ethic of the library We can I don't know if I'm sure some of you spend some time at the library and have seen our amazing staff Um, I kind of can't rave enough about them. I think we have exceptional library staff Uh, some of the best librarians in the country. I'm sure And and we keep finding more of them People are just stephen stephen in line who have great skills and compassion and warmth who want to be librarians. We're very lucky um I'm thinking all the time about uh Not just me, but our librarians are thinking all the time about equity issues um Quality of access to information protecting intellectual freedom access to uh a wide variety of voices We recently conducted in 2022 a diversity audit of our collection, which is something libraries can do to understand better What where the gaps are in their collection? What voices are not being are not being represented and to do a better job of of bringing in resources exhibits collection materials and other other ways of of representing people's voices and perspectives and histories Recently we had an african-american children's literature exhibit Where we were able to bring in um the exhibit itself But then also to craft programming around it for school children to come with their classrooms And meet authors and learn about children's literature Some beautiful books that we were able to feature and then loan out as well So things like that. We're already planning for next year's solar eclipse Um, I know we we get started way in advance when something's big like that We're gonna have a lot of programming around that And I hope that you can engage with it and your your friends and families too Of course science is you know endlessly fascinating. So we we get to experience a really visceral Experience of that I could have said that better I do want to talk about uh Some other health Things that we do in the community. We are um, both a warming and a cooling shelter In our community. So on the very frigid days in the winter Uh, we would be open sometimes even when it was not our regular hours. We would be open. Um For folks who don't have elsewhere to go for whom being outside is dangerous Um on those extra cold days and then in the summer the same thing We are a cooling shelter. So we've been open on days such as the fourth of july when we would normally be closed Um so that folks can get out of the heat when it becomes dangerous to be outside So we're always kind of opening ourselves up to these new ways of serving the community as as As we see those things that need to be done and um I hope that I hope that this is kind of painted a little bit more of a picture Of what the library is now A lot of us have the old image of the library the library as a place where you just check books in and out Of course, we still do that. That's still all there, but sometimes you're just checking a book out An e-book out at home or an audio book out at home or you're using a digital resource like a an investment tool or Upcoming we just got a subscription for candid which is a tool that nonprofits can use to seek out grants And we'll be running some programming Um to help teach people to use that tool so A lot of these things you build all together to creating a stronger And healthier community and I think you can see that, you know, we're we're deeply engaged in that work Um, I hope that all of you who haven't gotten a library card yet will come on down To the Fletcher free library on college street or at our new north end branch Which is kiddie corner to the hanna ferds in the hanna ferds plaza And uh, and I hope I'll I'll be seeing you there. We'll have time for questions If you would like to throw any at us Did I introduce myself? Oh golly My name is eamor pond feeny by the way Get so excited. Oh, well, uh, but since long before I had gray hair Um, so I'm a child of burlington and I did start going to the library in about 1980 When you could still hang out there when you were six without an adult Um, and then I finally got hired there when I was about 32 I guess so I've been there 15 years now. I'm an oldster It's a good thing to be though. It's really nice to see the library over time Thank you so much. Um, who has any questions about the library? Well, you can always just the cost any of us on the street Librarian never sleeps Yes, library. We want to know what do you have to borrow besides books so many things. So what don't we have? Yes, we have a theremin We we have as you mentioned a telescope Um, we have many many many board games. So if you want to plan a board game night with friends We can support that we have ties you can borrow if you need a tie to go to some kind of a job interview We have many baking tools like uh, really cool Differently shaped like holiday, you know like birthday and holiday and sports shaped cookie cutters. Um, we have a pasta making machine. We have golly Some other technology kind of things that I'm not going to get right We have metal detectors Yes, we do we do we have a lot of fun I I probably only said about half of the things we have Oh, one thing we have which is really great if you have kids in your household are steam kits um, and these are like Boxes with handles that have a whole activity inside um, and That you know teaches kids about science and art in a sort of easy to digest way that feels like fun Um, and we also run steam nights on just about every Wednesday night during the school year where you can come in and do Those activities in a supported way with a librarian with To help you kind of work through them Not every parent wants to try to figure that stuff out themselves So we figured out a way to help you with that too But we have I think over 22 of those steam kits and you can put any of these things on hold You don't have to you know, you can plan ahead put them on hold pick them up when they're in Yeah Have you as the library ever hosted events about Buttoning up houses houses house Yeah, I think we have for sure In partnership I mean the library has three different meeting rooms So many organizations book those meeting rooms for their uses and you're welcome to do so too All events have to be free and open to the public So it's a nice way to be able to access space if you have an organization that needs space And in those meeting rooms, we also run programming like in partnership with bed or other organizations That might be trying to educate folks about Environmental concerns or ways that they can take take steps To button up their house, you know have more efficient cars that kind of thing Yeah, we definitely have we post On our on our website the events that are happening our calendars on our website We also post in seven days. We have a weekly Newsletter that goes out we post in front porch forums So please look in all those places for the upcoming events that we're partnering and sponsoring Hi, um, my understanding is that the other libraries in the region are part of this home program Where if you're a member of one you can check out from any and that burlington's not part of that Is there any plan to join that or what's the status of that? We actually have been taking regular steps towards that Thank you for asking for many years people have asked that question This is going to get a little technical We use a software system that's called an integrated library system libraries use those to Be able to manage the relationship between materials and patrons right patrons check out materials We recently in the pandemic everyone thought we were A little a little bit Silly for doing this, but we decided that was the time to move towards a consortium ILS system, which was one bringing us one step closer to being able to do home card So we joined a consortium called vocale many libraries It's a it's a koa consortium koa is an open source software Which means that we can have more of a say about how it develops We can manipulate it more than we could a proprietary system open source is is very much in line With the ethics and values of librarianship So it felt like a good fit as well in that direction But how that connects us down the road to home card is A lot of libraries in vocale consortium are on home card We Are in a point right now where we are working with the open source support system called buy water To help us get to technologically to the place where we can join home card and it won't It won't Create a lot of problems with the software is a simple way to put it because especially because we have a branch System here and we're one of the only library only libraries that has that in the state But there yes, thank you, jonathan You can get through us just about anything that you want if you just request it up at the desk or online Where it says con contact us there's a form you can fill out and those libraries are still in in um You could say friendly relationship with us and and will loan us their books. It's just a wee bit slower We're the leading lender in the state, of course, we're the largest public library So we have the biggest collection and the wonderful citizens of berlington in the 80s decided to have a dedicated tax Percentage of tax. So we have a very robust materials collection Unlike so many other small libraries where they they need to ask for help more and we're happy to give it Thank you guys so much. This is great. Actually if I could just ask one thing so we hear that a lot of people volunteer there and there's a lot and I'm just curious in this This age of computers where people do a lot of stuff at home and in the covet age How is the library doing? Is it full of people every day or is it a quiet place or is it underutilized? It really depends on the day. Um In the winter time We are very very full and there are many when the students are here for instance There are many times where I look out and I see a person at every table in the library In this work, there's always a low in may and september That's that's a natural low. I think it has something to do with people's Cycles that they're in And of course, we did see a change in in our checkouts in usage from the pandemic. I think everybody did You know, we we were one of the first Libraries to open in vermont during the pandemic because we were really Committed to offering technology Resources to folks who didn't have that at home Understanding that so many places had suddenly moved all their services online Including social services the dmv And we wanted to make sure that folks had Equal access, you know, it was really life or death for some people to be able to to access computers. So Since then we've you know seen a steady build up build up back to our regular numbers It's it's always a little hard to tell I think I think libraries across the country are are going to look back on these years and go what changed, you know What the biggest thing that I've seen so far Is that folks have gotten very comfortable with streaming movies and television? That was a big change. We are dvds Whether they were of tv or movies always drove our circulation We know that was always a very high circulating category And that changed with the pandemic because I think people found some other resources and and said, oh, this is easy I want to do it this way but but books We had we had very high circulation of books both ebooks and and physical books during the pandemic And I think we actually excited a lot of people and introduced people to the library in the pandemic in new ways. So um, I don't know we're looking towards another 150 years Hope that doesn't sound too cheesy, but I feel like the the library is Is one of the most important things in a community in almost any community You hear that You hear that from people That that joining the library is one of the first things they do when they move to Burlington Um, I think that really tells you something about how integral they feel it is to their lives No, that's fine. I just want to Repeat what you what you said about uh, July 15th the hundred the sesquicentennial date July 14th was the day that that uh, Mrs. And Miss Mary Fletcher Handed the check over to the city of Burlington made the offer It was a $20,000 what was offered $10,000 right away and $10,000 that would be used over time And that was July 14th 1873 we want to celebrate on July 15th Which is a saturday it's it's not going to be a huge party, but it's going to be a party It will start with a parade down church street And we encourage everybody to dress as their favorite character from a book or their favorite author And then there will be cake and people doing things and music and magicians and And it should be an awful lot of fun and it's a great way to celebrate A very important institution It was uh in in 1873 this the The city fathers were begging somebody to make some donations to start a library. It was shortly after this the the city actually became Established as a as a city, but um They were very grateful to Mary and Mary Fletcher to to donate the money to get it started It took a little while longer to get a building and ultimately Andrew Carnegie gave the money for the building in both cases the Fletchers and Andrew Carnegie said We will make these donations But the city has to also participate It's a it's a classic example of the private public partnership that makes a public library such a special place So july 15th See y'all there Thank you. Thanks for having me. All right next up is um the city place team To talk about some updates Hello everybody My name is patrick. I work for sd ireland and i'm a project manager for city place and these gentlemen can do their own introductions, but I just want to say hats off to the library Fortunately a couple years ago My hometown which is south brolinton where I was born and raised and still lived We passed a bond and a library was built in south brolinton's downtown and I frequent that When I go pick up books to read I'm still one of these people that likes to read the books instead of the electronics So I just wanted to say kudos and hats off I can imagine it's a lot of work And I have I have been in the library dozens of times and it's a it's a great facility So I just wanted to say hats off to you Happy birthday and happy birthday Happy anniversary My name's Dave Farrank and I'm partners with along with Al Seneca and Patrick's boss Scott Ireland and the city place project and We're here tonight I guess we've been here before and we've been to the mpa's and we've been through the all the zoning meetings and stuff and Just wanted to give a quick reason why we're back We we bought out our partner about almost a year ago, right? Yeah end of end of may 2 Kind of inherited this project as it was kind of warts and all Working with Freeman's office over the last year. We we kind of dug in and really looked at what what were we Allowed to build. What did we want to build? What's the market telling us now? So we we've made some changes along the way nothing real drastic, but Enough that we had to come back in front of the npa and the DRB and DAB so we'll be following up on those next few meetings and And Jesse's got the presentation that kind of walks through what the changes were and what was existing So we'll let Jesse do that now. You want to say hi? I'll say hi Dave introduced me Al Seneca and I'm the quiet one in the bunch. So I'm going to hand it off to Jesse I used to be really quiet, but that changed with this job and this project And it's been an exciting seven years for me working on this and it's great to see things actually happening And to work with this local team of owners. So This could almost be spot the changes Because it's not a Super extensive change. It does require us to go back for through zoning and I'll explain why And I'll try and go through this really quickly. So if you have questions, save them to the end Just in case I happen to answer them in another slide But want to save as much time for questions as we can So I think everybody knows the site used to be a shopping mall And for a while it wasn't much and now there's construction activity going on. So We are building things What you see in this picture with the blue sky is the first of the pre-formed sheer tower Forms and these are arriving on site. So these sheer towers are pretty soon going to be nine stories tall So we're really getting moving the steel is being ordered. We're looking at the drawings for the steel We got the first drawings for the steel yesterday So it's really happening Why are we what's changed? Why are we here you can kind of see a before and after of the biggest change here So this is the south building. This is a long Bank street So it's actually shorter than it was before but the top two floors are bigger And the biggest reason for the for us to be here is because the the zoning doesn't count a mechanical penthouse that has HVAC equipment heating equipment cooling equipment electrical equipment as an occupied floor And they measure the height to the highest occupied floor. So what we're doing is adding more residential use So Right here This was this is level eight And now we got level nine. That's the same footprint as level eight and this penthouse that you could see Up here before that just had mechanical equipment is now also more residential space So we're basically adding more residences The thing that got us there was changing to an all-electric building So we're trying to be very environmentally responsible And we just didn't need any of that mechanical space There's there's been such advances in equipment since the project was conceived That uh, we're able to just give all that space back to residential use um We also are making the east wing of this building back here eight feet longer Because it's uh, gonna probably be cheaper to build more square footage. It just works better structurally as we've advanced the design So there's where we were Uh, when it was 14 stories, it's come down quite a bit And here's where basically what you're looking at without that ghost images where we are now and this is actually the the current image, um It's very hard to make the renderings match the software Uh updates to a point where the images just have to look better than they did five years ago Um, but you can see there is a penthouse You can kind of barely see past this cornice here That was not there. Uh, that was just stopped back here before So it's very subtle. Um, we've done shadow studies and it it's it's actually a lower roof on this side as well So it's going to be more than 400 units of housing For every income range part of it is going to be uh owned and operated by Champlain Housing Trust Um, and the inclusionary requirements are basically set by the city So it's a percentage of of income of the residents of those spaces. There's 422 parking spaces We're actually not required to build any parking now, but it's recognized as a necessity And it's about 720,000 square feet with these changes When we got our zoning permit for the current design it was 705,000 square feet So it's 15,000 more square feet, but it's actually more residential space because uh, we have less mechanical space So just a basic site plan you can see st. Paul street and pine street will be reconnected And the entrance is just the parking Uh another version of the site plan, uh, this is the technical civil site plan But one of the things we're doing is managing all the storm water from the site to help protect lake champlain We'll we'll hold the water on the site and release it when the water department tells us they have capacity in the sewer system So that's kind of cool This is kind of the diagram shows the the the red part that's managed by cht the north building which is uh Further down the road and the blue south building is what's under construction now Where most of the construction is actually foundation activity taking cross a place across the entire site Um, this is kind of a before and after of the building section so you can see This is um a little bit taller Um, not not taller just just more spare more space on these levels So where there was a a restaurant, uh, you know really what the market told us is It's a tough time for restaurants just because they can't get staff. It's tough to lease restaurant space So in order to get the project built we needed to Provide what was really needed which is housing um and This kind of just compares the zoning height so uh the zoning height was 128 feet but the actual top of the building is 143 feet And now the actual top of the building is 138 feet above grade. So it's about five feet shorter Just going through the plans really quickly parking in the basement retail on almost all the street facing sides And then as we go up the building there's another level of parking sandwiched in between Above this podium. We call it there. They start the two kind of Tower buildings start to emerge and they're all basically Excuse me all housing except the south building does have a community space that cita will help manage Um could house things like this npa meeting or similar events and some office space And then it's all residential moving up from there And this kind of shows this If you looked at them side by side you'd barely notice but this wing is eight feet longer The the project is 340 feet by 340 feet. It's almost exactly the sides of Two football fields next to each other including the end zones Top level has more residential units community room for cht and Um There's actually two-story condo units at the top of the south building. So those higher end units are going to help finance the other units to help make the Building pretty much a diverse mix of burlington And uh Solar on the roof green roofs. So we've got some plants on the roof to support pollinators and and also help with storm water And uh, then there's just some renderings so you can see The this penthouse that's set back From this upper roof That's really the big change. Um on this side. This is actually, um, you can see Macy's slash beat slash bhs in the corner here And This is looking down pine street. You'll actually drive underneath 100 bank when the road is opened So pine street will continue all the way from the south end All the way up to pearl street This is the south building Yep, the balconies are also a change Those are something we could actually do by right because it's approved by zoning It's it's part of the the form-based code So really it's the height change and the occupancy of upper levels that is is really what We're asking for permission for but we have also added the balconies I just wanted to bring you right to speed with what all the changes are And uh, just some of the public benefits We are reconnecting the streets providing some really needed housing for the city And uh going for lead gold certification Trying to use a lot of renewable energy. We're trying to really watch the carbon footprint of the construction So when you see it going up, um, it's a steel and concrete building But the exterior walls actually have wood framing and cellulose insulation, which is a carbon sink. It's actually a The lowest carbon footprint option for private providing insulation. So some really cool stuff happening there Not burning any fossil fuels providing the community meeting space and bike parking and And yeah, we're using a locally manufactured product called glavel that's recycled glass for insulation underneath our slabs Only second place in the u.s. That makes it it comes from Essex And here's some some snippets and ready for questions I'm used to hollering If you go by the site, there's a 1 800 number on the fence in various signs If anybody wants to know anything more about this or or see plans in detail Whatever call that number. It actually rings to my my cell phone. I'd be happy to talk to anybody about it And there's an email on there that also forwards to my email So it's a info at building city place And the 1 800 number. I don't remember it right now you I do not remember it, but I just want to put a plug in For all three companies We need help building Thank you We need help building this thing. So if you or anybody, you know or relative is is looking for work They can certainly visit omega electric farrington construction or resty ireland and we we'd be happy to put them to work Can you give us the timeline on what you're thinking about? Best case scenario or worst case scenario. Oh, it's all best case scenario We're on the south building where we're The south building where we're concentrating on bank street right now The plan is to get that done for the fall of 2024 And then the rest of the building Going up st. Paul street and along cherry heading west will be the next piece that we're tackling and then The affordable housing component that comes down pine street Is going to be the last piece to get built and that's kind of a function of the cht folks. They're going for all these Funding mechanisms way over my head how they do that, but brian understands And but the whole project will be completed for the fall of 2025 with the roads complete and open um, you know, that's that's our Deadline with the city and everybody's agreed to it. We're right on schedule Um, I think that's that's about it. Yeah more specifically So we're starting with the south tower South tower is going to be going up and then we're going to be heading up st. Paul working on the north tower So it is it's um, it's all going to be happening at once. So the south tower along bank street will open probably hopefully six months before cht's building is finally done So that's just the way the occupancy will happen around the block Any other questions you can have time for one more and say Um, I like seeing those levels that you had there. So you said there's some parking in the basement And then is the is it surface parking sort of up at a higher level or what is in that sort of middle courtyard area? Or is it parking? Yeah, so there's there's actually three levels of parking None of which you'll see what you see in the middle Is Is the garage but that has a that has a green roof. Oh, okay Can people go out on that? Is it like a portions of it? Absolutely. Yes I had a couple tiny questions. Is there any publicly of accessible roof space or is it all penthouse? No, no, we well Thank you for asking that question. Um, originally there was um Along on the restaurant level of the south tower. There was a community rooftop observation area we had in There's in the ordinance There is a couple of pages that describe why you need to why you need to have that And there's are a couple other options You for example, you could do a rooftop terrace Or you can do street level bathrooms So what we have been seriously thinking about I mean, we're going to be deciding any day now Is because there's no restaurant And there's not going to be a public elevator that would have gone up to the restaurant and the observation deck We are thinking that The city is going to be better served if we put more street level bathroom public bathrooms in So that's not a hundred percent. We're going through that analysis We may be able to do both, but it's the other factor is what we found out is Our insurance company is not excited about public Access to the rooftop And so there's other nuances that we can't control that that that we that the Our former partner didn't think all the way through of didn't know so So we're so that I guess that's the answer Thanks Okay, just a couple quick. When did you start construction? When did all the trucks start showing up in all the activity? November Okay, so Yes Okay, so one thing I've noticed or I've been looking for is public comment Like if if people in the general public were having a problem With all the trucks or the noise or the dust or something, but I haven't seen anything I haven't seen anything on c-click fix or front porch form Okay So in your experience, how does the public feel about your construction so far? Thank you uh I I visited everybody on the streets from In a lot of integration with the high school at macy's all the tenants and the business owners on the other side of bank street been over to the state office building outdoor gear exchange met with all those people and 100 of them are in favor of it There were a couple times things were a little disruptive. We were driving some sheet piles for a week or two And then we were pulling them out. There was a little bit of vibration Uh one One base fell off a shelf at um Is it not Danforth? Simon Pierce Cost me about 400 dollars that day Picture fell off from the um Frog hollow and and broke a piece of glass due to the vibrations So we we paid to fix that but in general, um, we haven't had many complaints Um The ironing guys have been doing a great job. We have this I don't know what the technical term is but there's a Big run of crushed stone before you get out onto the street that kind of removes any dirt And it's a it's a real clean site. It's it's a fine sand So it's not like clunky clay and and muck so it doesn't stick to the tires and um They're really good about keeping the sidewalks clean and uh So no no big complaints at all but that 1 800 number does work because my phone rings And uh, I I do have to mention uh, uh, just You know, how committed davis, right? So, um, there has been more than one occasion Where the Garbage truck has not been able to make a pickup because we've been in the way And davis has gone and filled the back of his pickup truck Up with the garbage and taking care of it. So that's that's the level of of this team's commitment Thank you so much All right, we're gonna I think we're thank you. Yeah, sorry Thanks for coming and now we're going to move on to our city counselors and school commissioners However, you guys want to do school commissioner. How do however you guys want to organize yourselves? And obviously we're running a little behind but um, not sure if the state legislate slaters will be able to Join us tonight. Anyways Hi everybody. My name is joe. I am city counselor for ward three. Uh, so west of uh Um, well fountains street, uh, and south to king street and north up to Uh Just south of cambrian rise essentially so uh, and That's all we're going to change the legislature has approved our new, uh, ward boundaries So, uh, next march, uh, those boundaries will change. So If you have questions about which, uh, council district you will be in Uh, come march 2024. Please reach out and be happy to help you out with that Um, I have a few updates and then I'll pass it over to uh, milo Um, a lot of folks have been reaching out to me about, uh, camping in, uh, public spaces Uh, in recent weeks. It's been an ongoing issue throughout the pandemic um, and, uh, unfortunately Uh, we're going to see a pretty sharp increase in the number of folks who are on shelters We're going to have to be sleeping outside Uh, as the state is winding down, uh, the pandemic era program that Uh, right now is sheltering around 2,800 people um The Legislature is passing a budget that does not continue funding for that program except for a very small number of of folks, um, and so we're going to see I think probably around, uh, 300 people in Chittenden County. Um And so, you know, there are going to be We're going to see more more tents, um Throughout the city in the coming months The city is working hard to, um, support folks in the best way possible I think we all know that our service organizations are stretched incredibly thin right now Our reach workers are, uh, burned out and I think, you know, we're all We're all struggling with, um, being faced with just how much suffering there is out there right now and so I understand that and, um, I'm here to Help answer questions for folks, um, as best as I can and as best as the city's able to respond to that So I just, uh, want folks to know that I am aware and we're aware and we're doing Uh, what we can within, uh, the limited resources that we have to be able to support folks Right now, um, the Another thing that I want to mention is that we are seeing a really sharp rise in, uh, overdose calls that the police department is receiving um, you know, seeing a continued increase in reports of sharps being found in public parks and our public spaces on the streets and City staff are also working to address that If you do see sharps out in public, you can report that on C-click fix and folks will go out and collect those The legislature has, uh, passed a bill that is going to the governor's desk. Uh, hopefully here in the next couple of weeks That will increase funding and access for Narcan Making that more readily available. It also permanently decriminalizes buprenorphine, which is a medication that's used to treat opioid use disorder And, uh, the bill will also authorize drug checking services. So, uh, these are machines that are able to Check the drug supply for, uh, contaminants like fentanyl and xylazine, which are driving the sharp increase in overdoses right now So that will not, you know, it's not going to solve the overdose crisis overnight by any means, but it will Give folks the information the knowledge that they need to hopefully be able to use more safely and stay alive um, I was just, uh Out of meeting last week where I learned that We're at 26 overdose fatalities in chitinon county Year to date we had 16 this time last year. So the crisis continues to get worse and Myself and others have been advocating for overdose prevention centers I'm hopeful that the state legislature is going to take action to authorize those statewide Uh, next legislative session the conversation started in the house this year, but it didn't make it Uh across the the finish line. Unfortunately, so I continue to push for that and just hope that folks will Join me in that advocacy and I'd be happy to talk more with anyone If you have questions about what that would mean and what it would look like here in burlington um And I'll just talk briefly right now the city is in the process of talking about the fiscal year 24 budget The board of finance had presentations On uh, monday night and last night Related to these, uh, the budget conversations and we'll have The police department budget presentation on monday We'll have more department budget presentations next wednesday and more on the following monday. So I would encourage folks to tune in to those conversations as we're really where we get a first look at uh, what departments are looking at for the year ahead and You know, there's a lot of helpful information in there You get to learn a lot about what city departments have been up to in the past year what they're looking forward to uh next year and You know, I think the top line that I'll I'll share with you all right now is that the city is looking at about a five million dollar gap between revenues and expenses in the coming fiscal year so There has been discussion the the administration raised the possibility of raising a parks tax by two cents which would equate to about a Less than five percent increase on folks property tax bills on the city side of the tax equation, which is not income sensitive Myself and milo and gene have also been advocating for the city to look at what what It would take for us to Build income sensitivity into the city side of the property tax equation, which is something that we desperately need here um, because the city does have urgent needs that we have not been able to fund for several years now and now that the federal aid is drying drying up We are looking at Some serious budget challenges over the next few years. So we're going to have to figure out a way to pay for those and We definitely want to do that without impacting folks who are already hit hard by the reappraisal and Are having a hard time making ends meet so we know we completely understand that and We need to make sure that we're be able to fund the essential city services that we all rely on so Encourage folks to tune into the budget conversations if you have questions about The direction that we're heading in please don't hesitate to reach out To me or Milo or gene It would be happy to do our best to answer those or find somebody who can In my last note before I hand it over Board and commission applications for vacancies on any of our city boards and commissions are due on may 31st city council committee will then be convened to Make recommendations for those appointments And then the council will make those appointments in june So if you are interested in volunteering to serve on a border commission those applications are due on may 31st And you can find those vacancies on the city's website. Thank you Thank you. Um, I just wanted to go back to the overdose situation because it's Very indigative of the severe drug crisis that we have right now I feel like i'm banging my head on a wall with regards to this. I I don't see Things need to be done on both sides. We need to have a rest of dealers We definitely have people as we've seen in the news recently coming to our area taking advantage of the serious addiction problem we have here and then we don't have enough resources for harm reduction. Um, so I think we're We're in for another really hard summer and fall the um as I've discussed previously the acting chief mirad does a chief's report once a month Everyone should be looking at that. It has a lot of really important information on it And the last one had a year to date for overdoses The previous two years were I think in the low to mid 30s and same time year to date. We're out. We were at 104 104 So that is really Such a dramatic increase the Going into community safety There are if you have not been downtown recently, they are starting to do some patrols So you will actually see officers patrolling downtown. You will actually also see Some of the community service officers the cso's known for short patrolling downtown So I hope that that will make a difference. I'm not sure how much I think it's it's going to be a wait and see Given the level of the crisis And then also what happens if there's not some last minute reprieve to get some of these housing funds back It's going to be a wait and see but it's it's it's a start and it's something that a lot of people have been asking for So it's it's definitely a positive thing I do want to give a shout out to the police officers have been dealing with a lot They're first on the line, but also there are the fire department and the ems teams Um, yes ems funds ran out early this year That's that's a major thing because they're responding to these overdoses And you can't always bill for some of these responses if someone's not Transported and they may not want to go to the hospital and you can't force them to do that Um, I also want to give a shout out to the parks department. A lot of people don't realize how much work that they're doing they're dealing with a lot of Health and public safety issues that they may not be equipped for but they they are doing it their last year They dealt with a lot of issues around the unhoused population and then a lot of issues around cleaning up areas where use was Occurring and so I anticipate that they are going to continue to have to deal with that park rangers We would like to be doing other things, but they spend a lot of time as well dealing with the unhoused Population so please please keep in mind all these other people that are working really hard In our city and when you see a parks person, please be nice to them I'm surprised that people are very rude to them So we have although I couldn't remember what the acronym was Our cahoots model that we've been talking about for a very long time Is now going to be called cares Do you remember what care stands for because the city's website is not mobile optimized And I couldn't get to it, but I will say that cares is a significantly better name than murk So Yes, when we have voices in the room, we can make positive Improvements and let's not use something that's short for mercenary, right? Let's let's use something that that says what we're trying to do Um, there was a vote on a senior level Supervisory civilian position There was some disagreement about the position. I think For a lot of us it would be preferred that it not be in the police department that the cahoots model cares The cares team not be in the police department, but right now that's where it's going to go um I voted for this position because I think number one it's important that civilian employees be supervised by Have a civilian supervisor who understands their work understands the root causes of what we're trying to address Long term I I hope we can maybe come back around with the Howard center Um But right now as long as something's moving forward, I guess is the bottom line I want to give a shout out to the work at the reib team is Juneteenth will be saturday june 17th the Celebration citywide celebration, which is going to concentrate in downtown burlington and in around city hall park Parts of main street will be blocked off for activities for the kids There's going to be a great performance inside of the flint theater later that afternoon. Can I say what it is? I think they've I think I don't know if the papers Right Yes Yes Yes, they have still been doing their thing and they're still doing great music So this is a treat as well as um other performers from our area So it's not going to be in other areas all over the city It's going to be kept in the downtown area and there are going to be shuttle buses Bringing people from different areas back and forth From where they live in other parts of the city to the downtown area throughout the day So I think this is going to be a really beautiful event I wanted to mention that For oversight and accountability the joint committee for ordinance and charter change had their first meeting May fourth the next one is may 23rd Is that correct looking for public input? Although we've had a lot of that still looking for more and I think it's important for people to speak to that committee and speak to other members of the city council who haven't been actively engaged in oversight and accountability because now it's the city council's turn And I have a lot of respect for them, but I'm not sure they all get it So I think it's not just Not just me I think that it needs to come from the public. So I know some people are kind of exhausted, but It's going to be really important that people maintain reaching out to this different members of the city council and being vocal about what they would like to see And then the last thing the last time I was here Someone asked about a project that was going to be happening in Roosevelt park and I really hadn't heard anything about it and Without going into a long story about why Where the money's coming from or why it was chosen there is going to be a pavilion built In rosevelt park. I think this is fantastic. It's going to give A place in the park for people to meet Have gatherings Have shelter from the sun or sudden bad weather something like that there is a Rendering and that rendering is not any type of final rendering It's simply saying this is what the project is and this is what the funds have been allotted I was very very clear that community input And conversation and communication is very important to us so they know that we don't want to have a Dewey park part two But I do support the the project and look forward for future communications on that Anything else? no, no Here, let me get let me get a No, let me get a couple of beats in here. All right, and then I'll let genie or whoever go Let me echo the importance of the budget conversation and the The need for folks to weigh in particularly about alternatives to the the property tax I don't know about other folks, but The stresses on homeowners from reappraisal and the continued need To to fund things as you just hearing requires that we raise sufficient revenues and unless The administration hears strongly from people the need for Property tax reform and alternatives to the property tax that are going to be income sensitized All you're going to get is either cuts austerity or tax increase proposals. So I can't Tell you how how important That conversation is and how important folks participation is The couple of other things and then I'll stop um barbie also And myself are on the the scoping committee for battery part for battery street And the city is looking at totally redoing battery street sidewalk street bike paths The park area And this goes, you know, not just in The downtown but right up into battery park and you know into Murray and Sherman and peru street and that whole area It's vitally important and the connections with the waterfront. So folks need to be Thinking about it and we will provide as much of an opportunity for public input as possible. So if you've got Ideas if you have had problems dealing with battery street, maybe you've tried to bike down there I won't bike down there I figure out every way possible to not have to bike to get down there But it really makes things inconvenient for travel Get a hold of either barbie or myself To talk about that The npa asked the city council to name the tony reddington Round to name the roundabout on shelburn street The tony reddington roundabout and we've gotten a bunch of pushback despite The npa's not just wards two and three but also five To name it we've gotten some pushback. We are going to The transportation utilities and energy committee to passed up unanimously a Emotion to have a plaque in honor of tony put there That's a start. There are some technical issues related to quote-unquote naming it That bureaucrats are putting in the in our face. So we will in my mind Do best by Getting what we can now and keep working on it. So just know that that is not lost And that we at least will bring forward to the the council something for for a plaque in honor of tony and his important safety agenda and the last thing is that It's no secret that north winewski avenue And the bike lanes and the removal of parking Continues to be an area that we've got to pay attention to for purposes of transit equity The people who are most affected are folks who have the least money and the least Opportunities to get where they need to go in an affordable way and mass transit is insufficient So we are continuing to look at the impact of the changes and continuing to evaluate that and continuing to press for city monies to um to address that so um Again, and i'm on that committee. Um, and uh, let me just end by um echoing what milo said about the police oversight We still have the opportunity to do substantial oversight of our police department Our awards voted in favor Of proposition seven um and fairly significantly, but obviously not enough numbers so um The the joint committee of which i am one of the co-chairs Is the the place where voices need to be heard and it can be heard So we're look for opportunities to engage Throughout the summer starting on the 23rd, but the next meeting after that will be the 30th and there will be Many opportunities within those meetings to uh for public comment and thank you very much That's scary. Sorry. Um, i'm genie waltz. I am The school board commissioner representing the all of the old north end that would mean Both the integrated arts academy and the sustainability academy The old north end has two other representatives one for Integrated arts one for sustainability and we are three representing the old north end out of 12 on The school board, but i also wear a different hat If you haven't already heard of it, it's called the ramble Jason's our sound guy. He's he's pretty much my everything actually and and it's it is happening this year It's july 29th our elevator speeches. It is the celebration of creativity and community For and by the old north end It's happening and And i'm sort of i'm working with a new person transferring We're What do you call that like i'm really We're transitioning. She's really interested in taking on The leadership role and i'm really interested in her taking that on And it's but it's super exciting Anyway, so back to the school board. The biggest update is we hired a new principal for downtown bhs um Obviously going to start july 1st And her name is deb dupree. I think i'm saying it bo pre She's coming from an associate principal position at hanover high school. She was uh, it was a uh overwhelming um A response from the hiring committee as well as uh, you know the majority of feedback from uh Surveys both students staff and community members Um, so overwhelming support. We're really psyched that somebody Wants to tackle this Community it's uh, can you imagine? I want to be a high school principal That's number one right and then on top of that. Let's do it in an old mall And work on creating this new building which i'm going to give a short update about anyway It's it's a big job and she seems really psyched and part of what i what spoke to me as far as Um, oh, i'm really glad that she's she's into this. She's got her daughter is going to uvm So just the idea of like, oh, we're actually gaining a community member somebody who wants to put down roots in our In our town not just uh in our city not just Oh, i'm looking for a position that might lead to a different position Which is unfortunately very common in academia Um, and in addition to a new principal at bhs. There's also going to be a new school counselor Our guidance so the guidance department has been really looking for this position to be filled for I think over a year it could be as close to two. So the fact that we've got um Somebody that is or let me see exactly her name is cas can draw Kas capital c a n d r a is her first name last name dory from memphis, tennessee So that is two huge positions that Obviously are integral to anything happening there. Um, so back to old old school bhs You said arrested developments and i have to say old school Demo and viral The demolition has begun and when I say demolition it's mostly about interior abatement of asbestos actually and They're the focuses on a building which is the one that's most prominent And it's also the one that had the gym in it So figuring out what's going to happen with all the physical education That has been happening there up until this point Or at least on the grounds the grounds are at some point also not going to be accessible. So, uh Building partnerships and signing leases and renting out spaces and figuring that is out is is in the works if not I would say it's probably about 75 cent 75 percent decided but um, there's still more stuff to come but the main things they're doing right now are Figuring out all the erosion control, you know, when you start digging off the top soil It's still gonna rain. You have to figure out how to make sure All that stuff isn't going to go into the lake as you're doing the work Putting up a fence. I don't know if anybody Went down to north beach. Uh, the parking was very creative and I thought to myself. There's a fundraiser for you Let's charge for parking while that parking lot was successful. But no the fence is going up and Hopefully by the end of june a building will be no more So that's kind of that's a big shift um, probably the uh Well, I'm excited about it, but I'm super serious about it The district is preparing for a full roll roll out of what we call or what they are calling the restorative code of conduct Um, and this would be implemented during the the the next school year 23 24 it it's still being revised the actual wording or um, practices Or procedures of how it's going to to be is still being worded, but it should be done by the end of june And plans for implementation will also be firmed up. Obviously shortly thereafter But I just want to read to you what this actually means The bsd restorative code of conduct began in 2017 with multiple district staff members students and union leaders Picking up the work during 22 23 school year to create a comprehensive community guide That applies to all students staff employees And parents and family members So this is this is different. It used to mostly be about if a staff member had a problem with the kid They could opt into a restorative process um Everything about restorative processes about avoiding a punitive approach, but now this is this has in place a process for families And for kids to ask for A process in which or to first of all be able to have harm acknowledged and then to Be able to opt into this hopefully restorative um I don't want to say the word process again experience Um, I should probably say healing experience The code of conduct is purposely designed to not solely apply to students But instead to all community members as we believe in bsd Our I should say at bsd that we all must be accountable for our actions and behavior And does anybody want me to talk about the goals of it? I could go on, but I don't know how excited everybody is at something at night I am available My my email is j waltz. WALTZ is my mother used to say like the dance at bsdvt.org Thank you So our reps are busy wrapping up the session in montpelier. So, um, hopefully next time we'll get to have them for Um, oh a while, um, but this ends our words two and three steering. I mean, um, mpi meeting Uh, thank you all for coming