 My name is Richard Shear and this is the Montpelier City Forum where we're going to be discussing issues and candidates for the upcoming Town Hall meeting. And this is an important show because you're going to have important decisions and at the end I'll say please vote and at the beginning I'll say please vote. We need more civic engagement. To my immediate left is Ben Eastwood who is running in District 2. Correct. Ben, what part of District 2 are you in? I live up on Main Street where Emmons and Main, 241 Main Street. So you know I'm up the hill which is kind of an interesting perspective of the city. I overlook City Hall or I mean the State House from my bedroom which is kind of a neat view. So yeah. And you're halfway between in a sense that part of District 2 and the part that's the outers on Town Hill Road. Right. So it is sort of the end of the sort of suburban area within Town here, the more heavily developed area. So up the hill for me we get into Town Hill and Murray Hill and those areas. So you know I have deer run through my backyard every day. But you've also got, I believe you've got part of Berry Street on District 2. Yeah, District 2 goes over to Berry Street and you know it's an interesting walk. If you walk along College Street from my house and jag over to College Street and then you know there's all these beautiful painted ladies and some really nice old houses and some wealth. And you get down the hill into Berry Street and you know you get into this very working class neighborhood that is a lot more closely built, smaller apartments in these buildings. And just you know there's a feeling of walking into a whole different town almost. What's the commonality in District 2? I'm sure you've done doors in all parts of, or starting to do doors in all parts of District 2. Well you know I think you know I think everybody in District, I think everybody in Montpelier, there's a commonality within our city is that people like living here and really want to live here and really want to make Montpelier a good place for themselves and for their kids to live. And I think whether you know people are a more professional working class or working class level, I think that's the real commonality. We like our schools, we like our kids, we want to take care of our seniors and take care of each other and you know I think that's been really a refreshing thing to talk to people and get that pretty much from door to door. Now you know enough about Council to know that this is not just a Wednesday night gig and that it doesn't pay much at all. You're in committee meetings, you're on organizations, boards, why the time commitment? What caused you to want to run for City Council? Well you know I, part of this public service, you know being a service to the community, I've served on the Conservation Commission for the last several years and that's been really interesting kind of you know my personal interest with that was much more on the hands-on rivers and water quality and hands-on conservation but we've really had an opportunity to delve into zoning into some of these other areas that has opened my eyes a lot more to the end of the work into the city so I really wanted to expand what I've been doing in the Conservation Commission and take on some of the other issues in the city. Were you following the master plan discussion that's been going on for years and finally seem to come to a conclusion? Well you know it's interesting, I think I have been following it on the back burner. You know I feel like we had a really robust public discussion about the master plan and really drew people in to really give City Council an idea of the direction people wanted to see the city and you know it seems like there's been some disconnect between how the city has worked and actually how the master plan has wanted. Can you elaborate on that? What's the disconnect in your mind? Well you know I think there's been a lot more focus on development and on developers than on some of the community issues you know and to expand beyond the master plan a little bit I think this is a general thing I think that we have this on our face we really want to get people engaged. One Taylor Street is a good example, I mean this is another sort of ongoing process, Mary Hooper the other day said when she heard there's going to be actual groundbreaking on it she's like I could use that when I was mayor you know but you know it's a process where I feel that there was a lot of public engagement and then sort of what was going to happen happened anyways and I don't know that necessarily the plan that's been you know well it still seems kind of up in the air because we you know when we lost Redstone our developer partner but you know there was a lot of really interesting plans for Taylor Street to make that a public gathering space downtown like maybe to get people to the river you know put a park in there or bring the farmers market you know onto there and provide a more permanent home for the farmers market that that would draw people downtown and provide this real-life centerpiece you know the confluence of the North Branch the Muskie River and instead we're kind of you know it's it's gonna be housing which we do need but is that the best use of that particular piece of property you know I'm much more excited about seeing the French block finally getting renovated and and housing in some of these other areas that that we you know would you have preferred the farmers market there on Saturdays to State Street well so so I think the State Street is is idea is a really good idea I like I like bringing the farmers market out what I would like to see alongside of that would be to see Langdon Street open up onto more like an art arts and crafts market in conjunction with that and really get people walking and I think that would draw people into town which is what we you know an area I would like to see us developing downtown by bringing people in and finding ways that we can encourage local small businesses and local artisans and local farmers to become in and build a really strong vibrant local economy but on Langdon Street do you think that as narrow as it is do you think that you get emergency vehicles through there if you were using those streets for for commerce well I think you know I think if you were careful you could you know and and you can get mergers emergency vehicles on either end it's only a block long so you you know unless you know so for medical emergencies and that sort of thing I think it wouldn't be a huge issue and you know you could plan carefully you know that was part of the discussion around even the State Street you know because State Street's a main artery and you know if we block off State Street then then and something happens at the State House or down State Street then we're really you know in a pickle potentially because of our emergency vehicles being trapped on the other side and stranded from from downtown with that in the downtown how do you see is Mount Philly or a city or a town well I think we're technically a city but I really feel like it's a lot more of a small town feeling to me I mean the only thing we're missing is town meeting day but I mean we're you know under 8,000 around 8,000 people and and you know that that by anybody's standards it barely qualifies as a city but you know we do have a city form of government and we do have city services so it's you know kind of the best of both worlds in certain ways and in some ways it makes for some unique challenges I think how would you at this point our downtown is kind of struggling business-wise right it's not you know it's a town of small family businesses in a small town and it's got the small town blues as other small towns across the country do it has the internet on one side squeezing and basically what would you do to try and revitalize our downtown well I think you know one of the keys is bringing people in and and from where from from from out from out of town and in from our neighborhoods you know we're a small town but it's easier to drive downtown from mostly outlying areas than it is to walk or bike or get there by public transit so if you want to be a city then I think we need to have have that ability that you know to be able to have you know a less car intensive way to do commerce within town so I'd like to see you know an increase in our in our public transportation I'd like to see a some better bike and walkability you know paths to bring to connect our neighborhoods to our downtown to our to our parks but also find ways to bring people in from out of town and this is where I think like featuring our farmers market more as a prominent event and and then even expanding that on with with something on Linden Street I think could really be a good way that that could really bring a lot of people into town and and bring a nice shot of of money into it into our downtown businesses has council been doing that in a way that you feel is adequate I think I think I think council has been doing a lot to help to try to help downtown you know there's a couple other issues with downtown that I think that there's been you know there's a lot of empty empty business business funds downtown storefronts and that can you know that that can drag down the surrounding businesses and I think you know they've talked about having some sort of empty storefront hacks or or fee I don't know if we need to go there but maybe have some sort of you know if we are going to supplement downtown and some incentivize downtown we need to I think one of the things we need to do is incentivize getting those storefronts filled so we have a vibrant downtown that doesn't look like it's it's struggling and then another thing you know but we also need to make sure that that whatever incentives and subsidies were given to downtown is working for all of all of Montpelier as well what does that mean well you know if you look at like the distillery that went in and we've we've going in well that's going in correct yeah that that well the project's been approved right and and and I think we're at almost half a million dollars in between the different upgrades we're doing to the property between the water main our part of the water main and sewer main the railroad crossing and these other upgrades to that and we haven't even you know we don't we don't know how many jobs that place will actually create in Montpelier we don't know if any of those jobs are going to kind of going to produce a living wage so I would want to see you know being a little more diligent about that so that we you know if we're giving tax money our tax money to a private project to make sure that project really is going to pay back to the taxpayers of town and that's in district 2 of course that isn't district 2 correct as is Sabin's pasture yeah what's your thought on the Sabin's we're talking about long projects like the Carlotta or the Taylor 1 project yeah we're talking about the Sabin do you think they'll be housing the Sabin's pasture well you know I I think because the infrastructure that's feeding into that distillery right will in theory feeding into Sabin's pasture you know I do see room for some development down along especially down along Barry Street down there you know the the Pioneer Street bridge is probably our best bridge in the city as far as capacity and so you know you know and we already have some kind of commercial type spaces down along in there so I think having some dense commercial or mixed-use property in there would be a good use of that space along along the road but up the hill we also have this you know really nice big untouched you know relatively untouched piece of land that the community really uses like a park even though it's not a park and we don't have any control over as a city and I would love to see at least a segment of the top of that of the top of Sabin's pasture protected or in some way whether it does become a natural park the city might buy and turn into district 2's premier park we don't have any parks to speak of in district 2 we have Harrison Field in the turntable park and on stone cutters and you know so there is no real municipal spot to bring families and kids together we just go to Sabin's to sled and walk our dogs by default let's actually quantify that in a way that we bring that in as a community resource and protect that as a community resource and then you know allow development down at the bottom. If we're talking about a park we're obviously talking about increasing the city budget to purchase the park. Right. Do you feel that the city budget is correct sized? We are the highest city budget one of the highest in the entire state right now. At what point do you feel that that has an impact on on school enrollment on the ability of younger families to go into Montpelier to buy in? Well you know I think I think that that that having parks will help draw people in and and I think that we offset that by you know developing more low-income housing like a long barrier like like the Down Street project at Longbury Street where we have you know these these apartment units going in I think you know the writing is sort of on the wall for our town for our city that that working families aren't necessarily going to be able to afford even at today's rates a single family house in town but we can bring people in and you know into the downtown area. We can also do infilling to these you know to some of these large lot old Victorian homes and and still keep the character of the town but have second apartments on there that could either be help seniors be able to afford to live there. That's probably rezoning that we were discussing a few minutes early. Yeah you know and these are some things that we really need to look at you know if we want to be serious about keeping the character of the town and also meeting our net zero and efficiency obligations you know we need we need to look at a dense downtown that's walkable that that that has a vibrant economy and and also you know I think we need to be looking at green spaces and there's so few actual green spaces in town that are really you know property values are high in Montpelier because people want to live here and and and people want to live here because we have green spaces so if we want to you know that's part of the character of the town. Where would you create new green spaces other than the park that you're envisioning and the high part of well savings pasture has some potential you know there's there's some stuff over in the back of district one that has some potential and even you know it would the back of district one be I can't think of the name of the neighborhood right now You're not talking all the way out on Finch Road where Rosie lives. No well you know I well you know there is some neat stuff I mean you know up there you know what used to be called the stump dump road. That's Finch Road yeah exactly yeah. Where our councilman lives. Yeah well you know I think to shift a little bit on that you know one of the things that I was really kind of excited about was this potential to put a solar you know a big solar project down there by the old stump dump and and and you know that again it's not just protecting green spaces but also you know I'm really a strong supporter of the net zero idea and being able to produce clean renewable energy in town that also gives us some resilience you know from we have storms and this increased disruption to the infrastructure as a whole. Net zero the competition that awarded 10,000 to the winning design how do you see that ever being implemented do you see that being implemented along with its its tram to national life. Well I think some I think some of that is aspirational and and and really to get people excited about the idea I think the reality is that we do need to find ways to increase our efficiency and produce our own energy that doesn't rely on fossil fuels and both from the aspect of global climate change but also just from an economic aspect as fossil fuels are getting more expensive electricity is going to get more expensive and and and and so you know I think part of that was the aspirational of the city of Epcot city of the future kind of thinking and I think some of that was you know there's some really important ideas in there you know as far would be a good idea from the downtown that that was embedded in that that you could grab on to well I because it was principally the downtown they were talking right well you know I think one of the thing one of the big things downtown is this is that the the sheer acreage of of of parking that that that that takes up downtown right now and you know be and and one of the things would be I think to just to find a different parking solution for our city part of that would be to be more walkable and more you know that was I think one of the best parts of the idea of all of all those of all the net zero plans was really to to get people downtown in in a way that didn't wasn't bringing more cars downtown and to you know we do have a confluence of two major highways that we do need to funnel traffic through town but you know getting more people downtown and taking that property that land that's now used as parking and turning that into some other way that's gonna be productive for the city whether it's housing do you think that would affect business downtown because you're talking about bringing people in from the outside right a number of those people would be coming in by car well I think I think we can look at other ways to bring people in you know we have the more this multimodal transit center that that that's going in if we if that's so if that's coupled with a more robust public trans transportation downtown if we have you know there's been the the plant the plan for the the Vermont rail that that Dave Wittesdorf has been working on where he's brought these these these commuter train cars and they could run on biodiesel and so you know that could connect Burlington to and and Waterbury to to to to town to Montpelier downtown you know that would require some some some investment in the tracks but it's there there are ways to bring people here that don't that don't require bringing cars into the downtown and you know we could also have more of a park-and-ride model where people could park and we'd have you know free parking in a shuttle that would bring people into downtown there's ways to do that without requiring you know this do you think tourists coming in from Boston would park in Waterbury and I don't I'm not talking about parking in Waterbury but I think tourists that come into Boston that come to that that would you know that come to Burlington or come to Waterbury or come to Stowe you know they might actually you know it would be worth their while to drive down in Park and Waterbury and take the take the scenic train into town you know and and and and come in and have dinner and then and then and do some shopping and while we're talking about cars that's a logical point jump off point for infrastructure right how is the city's infrastructure how long you've been in Montpelier I've been here almost seven years now how is the infrastructure now compared to seven years ago well you know it is definitely cyclical right you know I live up I live up on the hill on Main Street and and you know a couple years ago Main Street was looking nice and and you know and now we're we have potholes again and I think one of the realities is that this is an ongoing cycle that we have to look at one of my concerns with infrastructure is our water quality and you know both you know from you know on the Conservation Commission I was really active with the effort to protect Berlin pond but the reality is our water means are another area that we I believe in a lot of neighborhoods we really need to to upgrade our water system so we have that same quality water we're getting from the water treatment plant coming in you know we just had a water main break down by J Street this winter that that left a lot of District 2 without water for a day the public works guys did a great hero job out there in sub-zero Arctic temperatures thawing that out and fixing that and but you know I think we need to really look at when we're you know when we're repaving you know and when we're tearing the streets up to look at how what other infrastructure we we need to repair it along that along the same time realizing that federal funding is not available for beneath the streets as it was you know in the past right how do we afford to deal with our infrastructure under the street infrastructure when the streets themselves are in lousy shape well I think we need to find a way to do both at the same time but it's sort of like in your house if your pipes freeze you can't wait for a federal grant to fix your pipes you have to fix them and and meanwhile you know our you know we have neighborhoods where where where we've had you know water main issues for years you're talking to some of the residents they know that knocking on doors that you know that that have that that they're just there you know the water quality from some of these pipes you know may or may not as you know some of these some of these water mains are like almost 80 years old right well some of them are hundred yeah so so you know and the sewers as well and this well and this well that's the other end is is is you know we need to make our sewers and our stormwater system you know right now whenever we get a big storm we're dumping you know contaminated waste in the Wenuski River and I think it's just a matter of being a good neighbor to do everything we can to protect the drinking water of folks downstream from us as well one of the really neat projects that they've been talking about is this new upgrade on the sewage treatment plant that could also produce electricity a methane co-generator that basically you know poo power right that would that would use the methane that's already bubbling off and contributing to you know the greenhouse gas and and instead harnessing that and using that to generate electricity and I think you know that that could produce enough electricity both to run the plant and be able to either sell some off or be able to use it for other projects in town you know a better electric car grid or something like that where we could you know more charging stations where we could market that look we have poo powered cars and you know weight weights weight weights that you could could generate some interest and and you know I think as as America's smallest capital city we have the only one without a McDonald's we have a way to actually leverage I think some some some innovative funding from the different organizations that are out there that you know give grants to communities for you know efficiency and and and greenhouse gas so we're you know awareness great improve infrastructure improvement grants like that then in March City Council will meet as they meet annually and they set their their annual goals and each council person comes up with those objectives that they'd like to see during the next year what would Ben bring to the table what would be two issues that you would want to see on that board for council to consider during the year as serious objectives well I think you're one of them we haven't talked about yet and it is I would like I would like to see more of a public engagement and oversight of the police department in town here we had this really tragic event at the high school and and and and and I have two kids that were in high school and without trying to armchair quarterback what happened there looking at trying to find out what the policies that our police department has I realized that there is no civilian oversight of the police department on appeal here there is no police board there's no police committee it's you know and is that a solution searching for a problem well no I well I think I think I think I think it is a problem I think it is a problem in that if we don't have a public engagement with the police that then then we get the we end up with we have the potential to end up with a police department that's not necessarily responsive or to to the way the community wants them to police you know the police are a member of our community right and so it's a difficult conversation they're part of the fabric they're essential part of the well they're part of the fabric but they live here right and and there are neighbors and and I really think that the chief is doing it is doing some really great first steps to trying to improve relations the coffee with a cop program and and I'm not looking to like have an adversarial relationship with the police but I want you know I think one of the things that we need to start doing is having difficult conversations in our community you know people say we shouldn't talk about politics religion but but I think you know we instead we should teach people how to have a difficult conversation in in a way that does not you know in a in a calm and rational way that builds partnership and builds a relationship so you know I would love to see a a committee that is formed of the city manager and the police chief and three members of this of the public that are appointed by city council that would sit in meat and would both discuss and and and you know the police procedures and policies but also serve as a way to be sort of a an ombudsman for the public so if there are issues with the police department we can be sure that they're gonna have they're gonna be to handle in a very transparent and open way you know in other communities in Vermont or you know that hasn't happened you know and we look at looking back a couple years Roger Pione up in up in Orleans County you know felt like he was being harassed by the sheriff's department and had no way to have those issues addressed and took it out took it out on a bunch of cop cars with a tractor you know that's not the kind of thing I want to see happen in Montpelier I want to I want people to be confident that that that the police are responsive and you don't feel that you could call Tony or email Tony instead of meeting well I'm sure I could email Tony instead of meeting but for example with what happened at the you know at the school you know it's not always in his hands right you know the lack of transparency around that shooting is really you know from the Vermont State Police I was gonna say isn't that a state issue? Well it is a state issue. The Vermont troopers had control of that site. Right. Well yeah. I do understand that but also looking at just as a general at the national picture of policing and in the state picture of policing you know if we look at the Vermont State Police there have been I think you know three police involved shootings in the last two months at least two of them involved people with mental were in mental health distress you know the one at the high school here and the one that just happened the other night done on 99 where you know somebody's suicidal and and then gets killed by the police and and you know so what I would love to see is for us to be able to work in here in Montpelier instead of a program that that can really lead the way in that the state police might look at as a model for ways that they can improve their public engagement because the shoot first and then cover up later model of policing does not really sit well with me you know I think we need more transparency and accountability but but we can do it in a way that's not adversarial in a way that builds community and and and and really builds a strong partnership. I want to go back to the budget one more time. Sure. The recreation center on Berry Street has its problems. Old Armory what is an appropriate solution in your mind for recreation center. Well so you know as a modification of the current building is an eight million dollar facility as the play and swim people say. Where is it in your mind. Well you know what I would like to see is is some way to actually build more of a multi-generational center. You know the senior center center is serving our community well right now but but we have a very we have an aging population we're gonna have more seniors in our in our community that are kind of you know so opportunities that that that bring our kids and our seniors together and you know I would love to see some sort of way that if if we did build a large you know eight million dollar rec center or something something aspirational like that that we find ways that that we can make this a multi-generational type of thing. I think that could also provide some supplemental income for seniors who are going to be hit your heart really hard hit with these coming you know what would that do if our tax bills were to go up to finance that do you think that that would have an impact on our population in town. Well is there a relationship between taxes and population. Well you know as some would say. Well if you look at you know some say that but then you actually look at the reality and you look at like you know taxation versus population and where people are moving to New Hampshire and the cost of living in a state you know there was a study that was done recently that show that the cost by MIT that show the cost of living for a family of three in Vermont was around fifty one thousand dollars a year the same cost of living for the same family in New Hampshire with no taxes is fifty five thousand dollars a year. So taxation isn't the only expense that we have. The other thing is if we bring a vibrant downtown in and we're bringing some density in a town that helps the master list that how that brings in tax revenue. So you know it's it's a matter of looking at is this an investment that's going to that's going to help everybody in the community. And and and that that that is where I would really look at is is making sure that when we do take tax money that people have worked hard for that that we're investing in a way that's going to pay back for them at some point as well. Take it you know it's going to take us all working together and shipping in together and this goes back to you know the living wage issue and I know it's a state issue but but you know I think if if when we give tax incentives to to businesses that that we had that as a condition that they were going to pay living wage you know people that make what do you consider a living wage. Well you know I think right now you know the number that's going around is fifteen dollars an hour and and and you know if you look at that that gets people off of off of public assistance which lowers that tax burden there because people off of income it potentially gets them off of income sensitivity depending on their household size which which then could could could improve the money coming into the the master list. So it could you know and it gives people some money to spend downtown at downtown businesses. You know if you really look at the economy of it people can't if people are struggling to feed themselves and if people are worried about their next meal and and just being able to make their basic living they're not going downtown and and and and it's spending money at one of our restaurants downtown or they're not going down to one of the boutique shops downtown you know if they're going over to Berlin. So if we need to help people in town be able to afford to live here and be able to afford to actually spend money here and down and and and this is like the reality like on Berry Street that I'm seeing is that people are people are struggling right now and that that tax burden it will let that that that tax base you know it as an investment it is going to go it's going to help these people be able to you know raise their standard of living up and be able to enjoy the same benefits of town that that those of us that aren't currently struggling with food security and housing security can can enjoy here in town. Ben this is the end of this discussion and I think you really made some excellent points and now it's up to you and it's up to you to get out and vote on town meeting we're going to do every candidate for every office we're going to have the city budget discussed we're going to have the school budget discussed we're going to have the bond issues discussed so that at the end of this process you should be able to give an informed opinion but that informed opinion has to translate into a vote on town meeting day get out and vote make sure your family and friends get out and vote and watch the other shows thank you for watching this one.