 Okay, hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? That carries unanimously and we have our agenda, which brings us into the meeting itself. And so what we'll do is we'll get started before we get into the public hearing item itself. We'll just, we'll talk through, we'll get an explanation about what the charter change is, and then we'll open it up to anybody who would like to offer comments on that, on that agenda. So I'll go to city attorney Richardson, are you able to just please offer a brief explanation of the charter change that's being put on the ballot. Sure. This charter change effectively repeals the city charter authority for the city council to regulate what it deems as prostitution, or is more commonly referred to as sex work. It would effectively repeal that power from the city charter and would deauthorize the city from passing any ordinances related to this area. Excellent. Thank you so much for that explanation. With that having been said, I will now open the public hearing. I'm not, there is no one in con toys with me right now, who is a member of the public. I'm also looking at the sign up sheet, and there's no one who signed up there, but I do see some folks who have raised their hand on zoom and that has been our practice in these public hearings is to just ask that folks use, or not only to use the raise hand function so I'm seeing a couple folks there so I'll start them. I'll go to them in the order that they have been received. So I'll go to cedar trees first cedar trees have unmuted your microphone. So sorry, my name is actually Henry June, and the co founder and co director of the estar collective, we are an anti trafficking organization with an emphasis on sex worker rights out of Montpelier Vermont. I am. I thank you first and foremost for having me. I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude for the Council's unanimous agreement to read Burlington's charter of the antiquated sexist and violently puritanical language as an active sex worker and the daughter of one. It means a lot to me is a statement of trust that you would come to a consensus regarding this matter. It was humanizing. It's an amazing moment to realize that you value the livelihood and dignities of workers and survivors alike, enough to push past the stigma, the uncomfortable conversations and erase the document that isn't gross mishandling of public safety and of sex work. I wanted to share some food for thought briefly, and then invite you all to move on with this really important conversation again thank you for having me. Next I'm a little stumbly. I'm working from home I unfortunately caught COVID. So I appreciate your patience. So I have a quote from another advocate out of the West Coast her name is El Stanger she's a longtime advocate active sex worker researcher and published author. She wrote, church groups and anti porn organizations love using traumatized survivors to tell people why porn and sex work is bad for them, but they refuse to listen to the survivors who choose this line of work because it's their best option. Or because they were able to reclaim their autonomy by doing so. So sex workers I know are anti trafficking, especially the ones who were forced to work or engage in labor slash touch and yes plenty of trafficking survivors choose work for themselves afterwards. It's after escaping their abusers. They understand what it means to consent, more than most people. Excuse me I'm so sorry. If you do not want to buy sex, or view it or engage with it no one should force you to likewise if a person should choose to use their body to engage in a form of labor that they feel safe, dignified and empowered in. They should not be forced to be erased from the public commentary around public health consensual workers like myself academics and public health researchers understand this. It baffles me why it's hard for us as a culture to understand and reinforce these consent values. Thank you for it I'd like to invite all members of the city council to engage with us at ish star collective. We are run by active and retired workers, advocates survivors allies. We've been advocate for safe sex work. Last year we grew an acre of food to feed the entire community of sex workers and of queer people who were not receiving support with the coven pandemic we did this out of a desire to be neighbors and engage with communities as dynamic wholehearted human beings, not as people who are pimped, not as traumatized drug addicts. We really want to have this conversation with you. We want you to trust us and and feel safe to ask questions. So if you feel inspired to. My email is Henry he and our I at ishtar collective.org. We're super easy to find on the internet we're the only organization of our kind in the state of Vermont, and we're run down right in Montpelier. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is David Mickenburg to be followed by Maggie Karen and Alyssa Bernard, and if you are participating remotely, you can just signal that you're interested in speaking by using the raise hand function which is just at the bottom of the screen there. So, David, I'm going to enable your microphone. Yep, go ahead. Great. Thank you. Good evening. My name is David Mickenburg. I was raised in Burlington and live in Burlington now where I raise my daughters and practice as an attorney. I'm here in support of the city council's unanimous approval to place on the ballot. A charter change related to the outdated sexist and archaic language associated with sex work in Burlington. The unanimous support by the council demonstrates a step in the right direction of dignity human rights and harm reduction associated with consensual sex work. And while this charter change does not decriminalize or legal or legalized sex work in Burlington. It does send a strong message that as a city, we will not support legal language that perpetuates outdated, harmful and discriminatory concepts. And I want to thank you for your previous again unanimous support for placing this charter change on the ballot. And I look forward and the folks that I work with look forward to having a robust conversation with my fellow Berlin Tonians about this important issue. So thank you so much. Thank you. Our next speaker will be Maggie Karen to be followed by Alisa Bernard. Maggie I've enabled your microphone. Okay, can you hear me. Yes, I can go ahead. Thank you so much. My name is Maggie Karen and I'm speaking as Vermont chair of New Englanders against sexual exploitation. It would be a serious mistake to remove the city council's ability to pass ordinances limiting prostitution. The city council and the public have been deliberately misled into believing that removing local prostitution ordinances results in harm reduction and advances social justice and the human rights of sex workers. While there are plenty of assertions that this is true. The evidence shows precisely the opposite, wherever prostitution wherever prohibit wherever prohibitions are relaxed or lifted prostitution becomes more dangerous not less. In international comparisons, one of over 150 countries, one of over 30 countries that study the actual results of adopting different legal frameworks found that there was significantly more violence and exploitation where prostitution was decriminalized or legalized . Tolerance zones where prostitution is essentially decriminalized always in response to claims that it will improve safety consistently fail. That zone in Boston where police look the other way and let the commercial sex market exist without their interference. Quickly became the most dangerous area of the city and known as the combat zone. Similar zones currently being tried in London have identical tragic results. Last month city council voted to adopt a charter change that would ensure that the city cannot pass ordinances in the future should they be needed. Prostitution ordinances are widely used in most cities to limit where prostitution can occur near schools or in residential areas for example, and to take action when prostitution or other crimes create nuisance properties such as motels and nail salons that service brothels. The charter ensures that the city cannot intervene in any way if prostitution becomes problematic. Finally, I want to address two specific fault statements made by Councillor Freeman and others in past city council meetings. First it was said that the removal of local ordinances and the associated charter change do not really affect the legal status of prostitution in the city since it's still illegal throughout the state and local ordinances cannot supersede state law. In practice this is false. Burlington police have stated that prostitution in the city was decriminalized and that they no longer enforce prostitution laws. The removal of local ordinances have produced de facto decriminalization. Although the state law remains for now, local police and prosecutors have clearly gotten the message that they should no longer enforce them. Second, Councillor Freeman said that many of those speaking in opposition to the proposed charter change were from the National Center on sexual exploitation and that that staff were clearly declared by the Southern Poverty Law Center to be affiliated with domestic terrorist organizations. Both statements are demonstratively absolutely false. Just one person at the December City Council meeting where the charter change proposal was passed, spoke in opposition. Most of the opposition was from survivors of commercial sexual exploitation that have no affiliation with Nicosi. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Alisa Bernard. And I don't see anybody else who's raising their hand. If you are interested in speaking just to this issue, let me be clear it's just for the charter change so nothing else. Just the charter change is what we're speaking on. You can use the raise hand function, which is at the bottom of the screen. I go to you, Alisa Bernard, I've enabled your microphone. Yes, can you hear me. Yes, go ahead. Yes, hello. I'm Alisa Bernard. I'm the director of public policy and advocacy for Thistle Farms, a direct service organization. We've been serving survivors of prostitution and trafficking for 25 years. And our national network includes organizations from across the country, including many in New England states. Today I'm speaking on behalf of 32 survivors of trafficking and prostitution like myself, who opposed the decision of the Burlington City Council to repeal the archaic language without replacing it with a better language regarding prostitution. I would like to read the following letter on behalf of these survivors. For me to movement has taught us anything. It is that the voices of survivors should be heard, respected and believed in the past month survivors of the sex trade have stepped forward and provided testimony during the Burlington City Council meetings. We have spoken up against the city's choice to repeal all language in your ordinances and charter with regards to prostitution, but instead of listening to survivors, our voices have been dismissed. Perhaps our words were not heard because many of us identify as sex trafficking survivors, and you're likely wondering what prostitution has to do with sex traffic. So before you come to a final vote, we need you to understand that prostitution has everything to do with trafficking. Trafficking exists because there is a demand for commercial sex when that demand is normalized through policies or in this case abolishing policies. It outpaces the supply loosening policy and creates easier on ramps into the sex trade for those who are already marginalized among us. You can be sure it will not be wealthy upper middle class white women flocking to the sex trade for chances to feel empowered. It will be women and girls of color, impoverished people, Indigenous people and trans women throughout the sex trade. So to be clear, we want those sold in the sex trade to be decriminalized and provided with exit services, not criminal penalties. We also want to make sure that those who are causing harm, pimps, brothel owners and sex buyers that they are held accountable for the devastating harm that they do cause by racing the language that prohibits sex buying and operating places of prostitution. You are opening the door in Burlington to those who wish to exploit others. And by failing to add language that prohibits these behaviors, you put people just like us in harm's way. Because prostitution didn't help us overcome economic and social inequities, those inequalities just forced us to choose the sex trade out of a set of very crappy options. Regardless if we're trafficked or entered the sex trade by choice, the system of prostitution caused us long term harm. And as the victims of the very violence you are considering giving a free pass to, we hope you will hear our voices. Sincerely, 32 survivors, the sex trade. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. All right, I don't have anybody else who's using the raise hand function virtually and we still don't have anybody here in person who's interested in speaking. Again, if you are interested you may use that raise hand function going once twice. All right, we will go ahead and close the public forum on this item, which means we're an item three, which is adjournment. So moved. Moved by Councillor Mason. Is there a second? Seconded by Councillor Freeman. Any discussion? Okay, hearing none, we'll go to a vote. All those in favor of adjourning, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That carries unanimously and we are adjourned at 5.50. We'll see everybody next Monday for our full regular City Council meeting. Have a great night everyone.