 Hello everyone, my name is Julia and I will be moderating today's discussion with city council candidates Hannah King and Ben Travers. We're just going to get right into it and I would love if each of you could tell me a little bit about who you are and why you're running for city council. I will get started. Hi everyone, my name is Hannah King and I am running for the Ward 8 seat on the Burlington City Council. I'm incredibly grateful to be running for the seat I've been a member of the ward 8 for community for four years now, and I'm excited to continue my service for my ward in the city in this new role hopefully. Thanks Hannah. Thanks Julia, and thanks as well to town meeting TV. Thanks as well like Hannah serve on the steering committee of the ward five neighborhood planning assembly town meeting TV has been such an awesome partner over the years and making sure those meetings get out to diverse audiences throughout our community and really appreciate the work you all do such a vital resource for Burlington. My name is Ben Travers I'm running for city council in Ward five. I've been a resident of Burlington for most of the past decade. I work as a lawyer downtown here in Burlington, and our family of five lives on South Crest Drive in the addition neighborhood. I, in addition to serving on the ward five NPA steering committee and the current chair of the Burlington Parks and Recreation Commission. And when I was a renter in the five sisters sometime ago, I volunteered to serve on the Burlington housing board of review. I'm now stepping up to run for city council look forward to talking about the issues here with you Hannah with you Julia. It's been a pleasure to be running with you. I am running as a Democrat for city council and look forward to the chat here. All right, great thank you both. Next I'd like to talk a little bit into specifics about what is motivating you to run for city council sort of why you and why now in 2022. Ben if you want to start for us this time. Yeah, thanks Julia. This is the most important question right why are you stepping up why are you running. Firstly, I believe local government plays a unique role in our day to day lives. The water we turn on our faucets the lights we turn on in our houses, the sidewalks roads and bike paths we take to and from work and school. The parks we play in with our kids are all local government. I believe that our city council needs to recommit itself to these local issues. I'm here with the intent to recommit our city council to local issues like that as a fair minded consensus builder. So while I'm running as a Democrat for city council, not entering this race with any political bias or particular political agenda. My role my intent here is to work with all city counselors all stakeholders, all voices in my community really to cut through political divisiveness and to make progress on these really vital local issues. And I guess I'll take it now. So really over the last four years I've had the opportunity to engage deeply with the war date community through my role serving on the war date neighborhood planning assembly steering committee, as well as as the war date representative on the community development block grant advisory board. And through both of those roles I've had the chance to really see the ins and out of how local government works while also connecting one on one with my neighbors. But beyond that as a renter student daughter of a single mother, my father was a construction worker, my mom's a healthcare worker and proud union member. Those lived experiences of my family have truly served as my foundation to push progressive actionable pragmatic progressive policy forward. And with that I truly understand the struggles so many of my ward eight neighbors are facing each and every day because I've lived them and live them myself. So really I wanted to run for city council because I'm confident that I can be a representative leader that listens and is responsive, while also being thoughtful and our approach to solving the multiple complex problems that that Burlington is facing today. I could just Julia, you know, Hannah, I just want to commend you for stepping up and getting involved in our Burlington community and your work on the war date steering committee. I think Hannah and I both understand the importance of community in our wards. If I could just say briefly, you know, my family and I have been through some tough times, tough times that we would not have persevered through without the support of community. It's a community of family of friends of neighbors of coworkers that really props us up and allows for us to thrive. It's why I'm dedicated to get back to the community and Hannah, I know it's why you feel the same way. So it's great to see you both so passionate about this seat. And now Burlington's voting blocks are split into eight different wards with every two wards combining to comprise four districts. Both of you are running for a ward seat on the city council. Can you tell us a little bit about your ward and what makes it unique. And I will start with you this time. Absolutely. So wordy is definitely an interesting one. We have a lot of different dynamics as most wards do in Burlington, but really the breakdown of it are, we have our long term residents and student neighbors in the downtown area, as well as half of them. So we have athletic campus and redstone campus. And beyond that we have several community hubs, you know whether it's the YMCA our local businesses, the library, and then there's just like a lot of stark contrast in the types of residents but I think with that gives the word it counselor a unique role of ensuring that every person, every neighbor, every community within the neighborhood are being represented and talked to, to ensure that they are being a representative leader. And I think just touching on Ben's last point I think it's Burlington's at a very important moment, and what really motivates me and makes me excited about about Ben and I running is the opportunity to have leadership on council that has truly been doing the work in neighborhoods. I think no one, no one can be a better leader than those that have been working with their neighbors like one on one in a non political way, especially. And so I think that that will make make for a really productive council with with Ben on it especially. Thanks Hannah. You know, one of the great things about Burlington is I think that each of our wards brings such a unique perspective to the fabric of Burlington and I love talking about Ward five I love my neighborhood I love the community there. The way I describe Ward five on a map is, it's basically the part of the south end that runs along the lake it runs south of King Street and west of Shelburne Road. I would say, because we're known as as the arts district. That rings true, we are a district for artists for makers for small businesses. The ward is centered from my perspective along the pine street corridor, which has welcomed so many great neighbors, particularly over the last few years with a number of great breweries, restaurants, arts riot. It's also a place for innovators. I'm talking to you right now from the new hula lakeside building, which is an amazing place that has brought lots of businesses and innovators to Burlington south end into the ward five in particular. And what truly makes our ward rate is its people, its neighbors, its community in ward five and really across Burlington. I think what makes Burlington a unique city is that we have so many people here who want to contribute to making Burlington a better place. People do that through coming to NPA meetings through volunteering for boards and commissions to volunteering through their community. I'm running for city council to be a representative and to lean in on behalf of my neighbors. But I also, if I were to join the city council feel a commitment to providing my neighbors more opportunity more spaces for them to lean in as well and exercise their wanting to take agency over the future of Burlington. That rings true for me in ward five about our neighbors are folks who care about Burlington and want to make it a better place to live. So as a city counselor, you both would be a representative of your ward. How do you plan on engaging with your neighbors and how do you plan to improve those constituent services from where they already are. We can start with you then. So that's a great question and I think how I ended the last one is a nice segue into this one as well. So first of all, look as a city counselor as representative who's taking votes of course, you can't promise to every neighbor that you can be everything to them on every vote. But the commitment that I can make the promise that I can make is that I will be available. So if I'm elected city counselor, you know whether we agree on an issue or disagree on an issue, my commitment to you is that you'll have my phone number, you'll have my email address. I'll get back to your email I'll get back to your call. I'll listen to you. I'll hear you I'll respect you I'll value your viewpoint. And I'll give it honest consideration as we look to make progress in our community. That's me individually. But as I was saying before, I also think our neighbors are looking for more opportunities to contribute to the future of Burlington. And I think we can be better about expanding avenues for neighbors to contribute. You know it's not always easy for folks to find time. When meetings are occurring to either go down to con toys auditorium, or even to log into a zoom during evening hours when folks are putting kids to sleep or cooking meals for families or are working nights. And then even when you get to those city council meetings public forum, just having two minutes where you can't really engage in dialogue is not the best way to have community discussions. I'd like to bring more discussions back into the neighborhoods. I'd like to rely on neighborhood planning assemblies, among other places for us to have community discussions on on issues of of importance. I would like to have multiple meetings over issues of great importance and to really come in with with a blank canvas so that when we're making decisions what we're hearing first is what our community values are. Before we move forward. That's just a couple ideas. No, and I'll totally echo Ben's comments I think it's incredibly important to be present and explain explain your votes and where you're thinking and making sure you're getting feedback. But beyond that I know as the Ward 8 City Councilor I'm committed to continuing to facilitate student and long term resident conversations surrounding our shared neighborhoods I think right now in Ward 8 we have a serious issue with just a lack of communication between the parties and so I I'm committed to continuing my work with that, as well as I know day one when I become a City Councilor I plan to offer a standing monthly meeting for students long term residents and folks together. So we can all talk and kind of share where we're at on the issues and find where's our common ground, what work needs to be done for all of us to feel comfortable with the decisions being made at City Hall. So being present in the neighborhoods being available. I, I know that I have heard as as I go door to door making calls to, to my neighbors that there is a serious lack of constituent services going on in the city so I think just making sure that I'm being mindful and getting to folks in a reasonable time, as well as being available in ways that aren't just relying on email or phone. I think not not everyone has access to technology. So being mindful of that and sending letters reaching out to folks knocking doors when it's not campaign season is something that I am also committed to, to as a hopeful Ward 8 City Councilor. Now you both are members of your Ward's Neighborhood Planning Assembly steering committees. Can you share why you decided to get involved with your NPAs and how the work you've done with your respective NPAs has impacted your communities. Yeah, thank you for that question Julia. I know I started off at my NPA as a the end of my freshman year at the University of Vermont. I had attended meetings such as Community Coalition, which gathers together neighbors, all around the city but really focusing on our district communities. And from those conversations it became very clear to me that there was a disconnect in a lot of anger in the neighborhood, which really stems from, as I mentioned prior, just a lack of communication and using compassion to like work on the issues in front of us. And so with that I started attending my NPA and I knew early on that I would want to join the steering committee because I think it would be a great opportunity to have younger voices involved but then also have the opportunity for students and long term residents to work together to find and build meetings that were productive for all of us. And so with that it's been very exciting to be the youngest person on a steering committee in the city which is great and I've had the opportunity to work with Ben and other NPA members which I think having dialogue between neighborhoods is huge because I think a lot of the issues facing our awards are very similar. And so I know that I've really enjoyed my time with the NPAs. Yeah, thanks Hannah and thanks for that question Julia. You know when my family and I, or my wife and I at the time we had our kids since we moved here but when my wife and I moved to Burlington nearly a decade ago, I was intent on getting involved in my community soon after I got here. And it was through front porch forum, which is another great unique part about Burlington is having those online message boards for folks to connect about issues of importance. I learned about the NPA, went down to a meeting, started going to meetings, went up to one of the current steering committee members at the time and asked about how I could get more involved. And I loved that we had these places where folks could have open discussion about community issues and learn about what's going on in their neighborhoods. I also saw an opportunity for us to do more though. So I'm in my fifth year now as a member of the steering committee actually I'll term out this year I bylaws only allow you to stay on for five years so hopefully that works out in my stepping into a role on the city council. But over the last five years, I've worked with my other steering committee members I hope and I think to build more open more inclusive spaces for community dialogue. We lobbied the city for not much but some additional funding for the NPA, such that we could start hosting more community events. A couple years ago we hosted a outdoor movie, which was really well attended. During the pandemic, we were able to provide some grants to neighborhoods to do block parties, which was such a cool way for neighbors to come out and to reconnect during the pandemic. We also was able to take some of that funding to do more in terms of micro grants. So I've been really proud that the last couple years. We've been able to support for example, the purchase of books and other equipment for the King Street Center as an NPA representing our community. So I'm glad that we've been able to do more. I think there's more that the NPA can do even even beyond this and a city councilor I would be committed to providing our NPAs with additional resources to connect with even more folks our community. I think that there are some diverse communities in Burlington that for various reasons don't have seats at the table on community discussions. I think that Burlington actually has a great program called the trusted community voices program that's relied on on trusted voices in diverse communities to get messages out and to and to hear voices from folks who historically have not had agency over decisions in Burlington. I think the NPAs with with further support and resources can be better about tapping into those diverse communities. And I would love to expand upon and lean on that trusted communities voices program as as a great model for how we can do that. And then you just listed a lot of great projects that you've worked on and my next question would be if both of you could share what the most meaningful project you've worked on through your NPA has been and also fall you're at it. One of you would like to just sort of give us a quick overview of what an NPA is what it does. What sort of power it holds in the community for yours who may not know. I can start and I yeah I mean Ben mentioned a lot of incredible work that has come out of NPAs I think oftentimes, you know folks look at an NPA and think it's just a monthly meeting where the same folks go and talk about the same things what but I think I think there's a lot of value as as different NPAs have that add to our neighborhoods. I would say overwhelmingly the most meaningful NPA project that I've had the privilege of being a part of is last year during our mayoral elections. I began talking with folks on my NPA steering committee, and I have a background in working as an organizer to try to provide immigrant and refugee farmers with more land and opportunities to, to like create products and work within communities that they traditionally have not been involved in. And so with that experience I was able to pair with other groups to provide the first live translated my oral debate in in Vermont's history, which I think was an incredibly important moment where folks that aren't English speakers never had the opportunity to hear from mayoral candidates live at the same time as everyone else. And so with that I, I think that we need to be working and I think NPAs play an important an important role in ensuring that we're involving everyone in our local government and everyone in our communities, and kind of taking those extra resources that NPAs have and that folks have been fighting for to ensure that we're we're offering language access that we're bringing in presenters and presentations that you know all folks want to listen and participate in, not just the same individual English speakers that you know always attend the NPAs. The state that you put together was amazing. And so congratulations again for your doing that I hope it sets a standard for what we'll be doing going forward. Julia to answer a part of your question, which is what are the NPAs. People have different thoughts different visions different answers to that but from my own perspective. Today's came around about 40 years ago they date back to when Bernie Sanders was the mayor here in Burlington, and the way I view it and I think what their intent was, was to bring the tradition of town meetings that we have here in Vermont into Burlington. So first Tuesday of every March we have town meeting day here in Burlington. And the decision that that we're too big for everyone to get together in a cafeteria or an auditorium for us to have a town meeting so all we do is we have the election where you go into the ballot box and check who you'll be voting for. In other towns and cities and villages throughout throughout Vermont. It's an opportunity for neighbors to get together in that town hall, or school cafeteria for folks to talk about the issues to talk about what matters and to make decisions on the future for community. So the NPAs provide that same town meeting tradition by hosting meetings, at least once a month, where neighbors can get together, talk about decisions, talk about the future of their community. And, and again, take agency over over where Burlington is headed. I did talk about a number of things that we've done with the NPA and how we've made progress with it I think over the years. And, but if I were to answer your question as to one thing that I'm most proud of it's whenever the NPA has an opportunity to be a forum on issues that are creating a lot of debate, or a lot of concern in the neighborhood. You know, when you're having those issues, what folks want is an opportunity to be heard, an opportunity to discuss matters. And as I mentioned earlier on, now I don't think that public forum at a city council meeting is the best place to do that you go in, you have two minutes. When the clock ends, you're cut off city counselors don't have an opportunity to respond back to you and you don't have a chance to talk to other neighbors about it. So when we have these great issues of great importance in our community. The NPA is can serve as a venue to provide neighbors an opportunity to really be heard. This last November I organized event, an event on public safety, as well as the houselessness crisis that was being felt at Sears Lane and Ward five. We invited not only folks from the public safety community community, but we also invited our neighbors who are on house who weren't living down in Sears Lane. And it presented a great opportunity for folks who were actually living down in Sears Lane who I consider to be our neighbors as well to connect with other people in the neighborhood, and for folks to have a discussion about their concerns about Sears Lane, but also concerns about houselessness and how we're going to continue to make progress on the issue. There are more than 80 people that joined that event. I think that we were able to create a space that was welcome that was inclusive where everyone felt respected. And I was proud of our ability to do that. Ben, that's another great segue into my next question for you, which is that as you know the rising cost of housing in Burlington has been a topic circulated around the city for decades. How do you plan to tackle the issue of housing affordability and ease the houselessness crisis. Well, since I was talking about our neighbors who are on house, why don't we start with that. So, you know, I had visited Sears Lane on a couple occasions. When I learned that that encampment was being evicted. I went down there on that day. And regardless of how you feel about the encampment. It was tough to see. It was a tragedy for those folks who were down there and folks who are on house is a tragedy in and of itself. It's a sign that we need to do better as a community for our neighbors who are houseless. I think that we need more open transparent and empathy driven practices that provide diverse supports for a population that has differing needs. There's no simple answers to this difficult issue, and that a comprehensive approach is going to be necessary in order for us to deal with it. In the short term, I think we need to explore more emergency housing options like for example, expanding upon the hotel motel program that's been put forward by the state. But that has an expiration date on it coming up in some months and we need to look to whatever we're going to do beyond that. In the long term I think we need to invest a lot of resources into more long term stable housing. There's no barrier and no barrier shelters and for those shelters that currently exist to the extent they need more resources such that folks can stay in those shelters and don't have to leave during the day with their belongings. I think we should find ways to get those resources to them. I'd also support the creation of a full time position within the city dedicated to eliminating homelessness and serving as an advocate for those who are unhoused. On the houselessness issue. This is not just a Burlington issue. This is being felt in communities throughout the state and our neighboring communities as well. And I think we need to do better about working with our regional partners, the state and federal partners to secure the resources necessary to really address this issue. On housing, don't want to be too long winded here we could go on for quite some time about it. But, you know, I, when we moved to Burlington, we were renters in the five sisters neighborhood in the south end, and my wife and I were lucky enough to be able to buy our first home in 2014. We lived at the corner of home Avenue and pine street. Looking at the price of housing today. I don't know that my wife and I would be able to afford a first home. And that deeply concerns me not only the rising cost of houses, but also the rising cost of rent and who it is pushing out of our city, and who it is preventing from moving here. So, I think, you know, when we talk about engaging the community on issues of great importance. This is top of mind for me. So I think we need to engage the community on how to best amend the city zoning ordinances that currently prohibit additional housing in the south end and throughout Burlington. I do think in the south end we can do this in a way that preserves our space as an area for artists and makers and small businesses. Additional housing has to include additional affordable housing. And I think it also needs to include additional housing for those who are unable to purchase their first home at the moment. I'd support fully funding the city's housing trust fund, which supports additional affordable housing. And finally, I think that we can ease a lot of the restrictions that are currently prohibiting existing homeowners from staying in Burlington by building or adding on to or renovating their car house. Great. And Hannah as a renter, an important area of your platform is focused on renters rights. Can you speak a bit to the types of policies you will support in order to improve the standard of living for Burlington's tenants. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Julia. So I want to touch upon three kind of main focal points in on my platform that are related to specifically renters rights. The first one is looking critically at how as a city and as a council we can pass a rent stabilization plan. I think the only way that we're going to truly be able to protect renters is ensuring that problematic and predatory landlords stop having the opportunity to charge insane rent prices for renters all over the city. Second is touching upon Ben's houselessness conversation. You know, I've worked with the houseless community in Burlington for three years now. You know, I serve on the BTV Lowbury or homeless shelters advisory board and through that role I I've had the chance to work with these communities and hear from them on, you know, what works and what doesn't we like as a renter I should be making or assuming what the houseless community wants and so I think, you know, creating more stable long-term and fair housing options for our neighbors experiencing houselessness but then also looking at policies that are already in place, such as camping on public land and talking with the houseless community because the reality is traditional housing doesn't work for everyone and not everyone wants that avenue and so figuring out a way where we can, we can work with and protect folks that don't want traditional housing is also a priority for me. And the third is just pushing for the expansion of code enforcement, code enforcement, building that out and making sure that we can ensure tenants are in safe rental units, as well as, as I mentioned that we're really holding problematic landlords accountable. Every single year I hear stories whether it's from friends or other renters in the neighborhood about the same landlords taking advantage of students young people, older renters and I think we need to really crack down and find a way to prevent that from from happening. So that way, we are actually protecting renters and creating policy and putting policy in place to to stop the predatory behavior that's taking place right now. Great. I have one more question before we go into our closing remarks, which is that at the most recent UN climate summit in Glasgow. A lot of emphasis was placed on local leadership with one headline reading cities not countries are driving the conversation in COP 26. What is the importance of a relatively small city like Burlington creating ambitious climate goals, when the private sector is really responsible for disproportionately driving greenhouse gas emissions, and what is Burlington's next step in fighting the climate crisis. Either of you can start. I mean, I'm happy to start and this is really the question of our time Julia, not just here in Burlington, not just nationwide but but for our planet. It is the existential crisis that we're facing at the moment. In order for us to have any chance at solving climate change. Everyone has to play their part. And that boils down to not only us doing that on our individual level, but us doing that in our communities and us doing that as as a city. So Burlington has led on how cities and municipalities can lead on climate change through for example, our efforts to become a net zero city. We are setting an example for other cities towns municipalities around the country to follow suit. Each of our individual city departments and agencies as well can play their own part so, like I mentioned before I serve as chair of the parks Commission currently, and we have played a role in for example, developing nature based solutions to climate change, including among other steps. I mean obviously this is not going to solve climate change in and of itself but an important part of Burlington separate towards it is increasing the tree canopy. We need green belts to bring more shade and to cool down houses and businesses such that we're not having to use air conditioning as much during the summer. It's a small step but many of these small steps put together can do a lot towards our city, making a contribution towards solving climate change. What are some bigger issues that we can do beyond Burlington's great efforts to become a net zero city. I do think we can invest more in sustainable infrastructure, making Burlington a more walkable bikeable city for active mobility. I think the parks department's done great with the bike paths but we can do that, even, even more throughout the city. I also think that we could put more of an investment into more user friendly public transportation. There's a few ideas among many, but it is very important that Burlington play its role and that all cities really play its role in addressing this incredibly important issue. Yeah, thank you Julia for that question. I mean I think the great thing about working on climate policy in Vermont's largest city is the fact that the major players, specifically in the private sector will have to adapt to the climate goals that we set. We have the ability to set the standard for the rest of the state when it, when it comes to climate. And so our climate action plan laid the groundwork for cities around the country to fight the climate crisis at a local level. We have to hold ourselves accountable for adhering to that plan and not be afraid to push beyond the goals that it outlines. Moving forward, the council specifically has to look at amending minimum housing standards to mandate weatherization of homes. I think the weatherization conversation. I've been following it on council, and I don't think it's going far enough and I think it's taken far too long to get it to a place where it needs to be. So this is particularly an important issue in Ward 8 where many of the rentals are rental units are very inefficient. They're wasting energy on heating homes to account for poor installation. And so I think that the local role of climate justice and climate policy is really holding ourselves accountable, ultimately, and making sure that we are trying to push as far as we possibly can. So I think we have to make the fastest speed that we can to ensure that we are making legitimate strides towards, towards this problem. Well, thank you both for speaking with me today. I think our time is almost up. So I'm just going to invite you to share some closing remarks. And also, I've been requested to ask Ben what his favorite park is as chair of the parks commission. So Ben, if you could include include that in your closing statement. Well, on parks the easy answer would be to pick one of our big beautiful parks like oak ledge or or leddie park for example. But actually the parks that mean the most to me are the small parks that are sprinkled around our neighborhoods the ones that we take our kids to to play on the playground because it's just a block or two blocks away. So my favorite park is Baird Park. Not very many people know about it but it's a little park. It's right at the very end of Pine Street. It has a basketball court and a great playground and a community garden and a field with picnic tables to play soccer in or to have an outdoor meal with your family. We've taken all our kids there to pop on a swing set for the first time and so that that little park Baird Park is near and dear to me. Thank you to Julia. Thank you Hannah for running and for joining me today. Thanks to town meeting TV. Again, my name is Ben Travers and running for city council and Ward five I've been really honored to have the support of so many folks in the neighborhood, including really well respected great public servants like representative Tiff Blumley representative Mary Sullivan as well as our current city counselors who have been supporting me in this. I hope folks who are tuned into and watching this will will join them in supporting me. I welcome you to reach out to get in touch with me. You can find me at Ben for Burlington at gmail.com or feel free to check out my website Ben Travers.com I'd love to hear from you would love to hear about your priorities. That's my commitment both during this campaign as a city counselor is to is to be available to listen to you to talk to you and to keep your priorities in mind as we move forward as a city. So thanks again, and I would love your support but more so than that would love to hear from you. Thanks. Yes, thank you Julia and Ben I'm very excited to continue our work together on council. I'm Hannah King and I'm running for the Ward eight city council see I have been, you know it's been a really exciting time over the last couple of months having the opportunity to be out and about hearing from my neighbors and talking to them about what they think the ideal Ward eight city counselor is, and I'm looking forward to continuing that dialogue with folks around the word and around my neighborhood. If you would like to learn more about my campaign, you can look at Hannah for Burlington.com, or reach out to me at Hannah for Burlington at gmail.com, and I'm really looking forward to a the rest of a productive and meaningful campaign cycle. Once again, thank you both for joining me and thank you to town meeting TV for hosting us today. We hope to be able to continue this segment when you both are on the city council and broaden the discussions then have a great day.