 Hello and welcome to CCTV's Channel 17 Town Meeting Television and another in our 2019 live candidate forums. I'm your host, Matt Kelly. On tonight's show, candidates vying for North District City Council seats. On March 6th, one of these three candidates will be the next city councillor for the North District. Let's meet our candidates. Vying for the position as a Democrat is Franklin Paldino. As an independent, we have Kenan Christensen. And also running as an independent, we have Erika Bundy Redick. Our format for this evening is a 60-second candidate opening statement followed by a round robin question and answer with the candidates answering questions that I will give them. The candidates have been given the questions ahead of time. Time now for our opening statements. Ladies first, Erika Bundy Redick. Let's begin with you. Thank you. It's really nice to know that Chilory is not dead here in Burlington. My name is Erika Bundy Redick and born and raised in Vermont. Family ties to the New North End since the early 60s. And running as an independent, but I'm also self-proclaimed conservative. And I just don't like labels, at least not today. I don't like labels. And so we're going to go with that. And my big thing for Vermont is economic development. My big thing for Burlington especially is economic development, economic development, conscious economic development. And that's my statement. Very good. Kenan Christensen, your 60-second opening statement. My name is Kenan Christensen and I'm running for the North District to represent the New North End. The reason why I'm running is because I believe that when communities are working together, all of us thrive. We can find solutions to housing affordability here in Burlington. We can find solutions to climate change. We can find solutions to making North Avenue safer. And we can bring community services out to the New North End. I'm a young attorney here in town. I've represented survivors of violence. I've represented multi-million dollar corporations. And I'm a former law clerk to Justice Beth Robinson. I believe in excellence through hard work. And that's what I'm going to do for all of you when I'm elected as your next city counselor. Very good. Franklin Paul Dino, your opening statement. My name's Franklin Paul Dino. And I'm the Democratic candidate for the North District seat. And I am running for office because I have a passion for public service. And I'm dedicated to helping people. I've been a career prosecutor for most of my career. And as a prosecutor, I know this community. I work for TJ Donovan and Sarah George. And during those four years, I know this community struggles. I see them every day. Our priority needs to be to bring a common-sense approach to city government, to get more things done for our tax dollars, to get more value for our city's assets. That's why I'm running. I'm a father of three. My wife was born and raised here. As a partner to my wife and a father to my three children, a career prosecutor, I will ask tough questions and get results. Very good. Our 60-second opening statements from our candidates. Thank you for all of those statements. It's a pleasure and honor to actually share the stage with each of you. I want to salute your courage for your willingness to serve our city. We have a question. The phone lines are already lighting up. So we'll go to line one right here. Caller, you're on the air with our candidate forums for our North District City Council. Your question, please. Great. Thank you. Recently, news broke out that current City Council candidate has a history of tweeting sexist and violent comments about women. That candidate hasn't pulled out of the race. And organizations like Rights and Democracy, as well as the Progressive Party, have not rescinded their endorsement of Keenan, who received the endorsement of these groups as well. What do you think of the situation here from Keenan first? Thank you. Okay. Very good. We'll let go of that call. Keenan, the question was to you. There are some racist comments, or rather some misogynist comments from someone who has received a progressive endorsement as you have as well. Your response to the question, please. So the tweets were hit me at a very visceral level. I had the privilege of representing survivors of violence for the last year. And I was really upset and disillusioned by the tweets. I condemned them. I issued a statement shortly after I found out about them. But I'm really focused on how we move forward as a community because there is going to be a lot of hard work that the other candidate is going to have to put in to really build bridges and to bring folks together. Violence impacts all of us. And it impacts all of us in various ways. And I'm really focused on how we move forward as a community. It's going to take a lot of hard work. You know, when I came out to my father as gay, it did not go over well. He was very upset. He did not accept my sexuality. And I could have ostracized him. I could have said, no, we're not going to have a relationship. It took a lot of hard work and effort to build that relationship back up. And I'm so glad that we did because it allowed me and my father to have a really good relationship. I encourage Mohammed to continue to put in hard work. He came with me yesterday to go see restraining order hearings where frequently survivors are appearing without representation from an attorney, where frequently they have to face their abuser who has an attorney. We can do better here in Vermont. And one of the things that I'm proposing as city council is funding a city attorney to provide that representation to survivors so that no one seeking a restraining order has to go into court alone. Very good. Erica, Bundy, Redick, I'd like your response as well. Sixty seconds, please. Yeah, I have to admit, I have not read all of the tweets myself. So what exactly the content of them was, I cannot speak to. I have a few feelings about this. On a personal level, obviously it's horrifying. You never want to hear about people being sexist or racist or anything because that kind of hate and misunderstanding just doesn't make sense to me. I wasn't raised that way and it doesn't register. So it just makes me really sad. Now that being said, this person is out in the open being public about it. And they get to say whatever they want because we have what's called freedom of speech here and I then get to vote with my feet. And if this person I know happens to be a misogynist, I'm not going to go where they work. I'm not going to buy from their store. I'm not going to vote for them for city council. And now it's out in the open that they are who they are and so it's not a secret. And so to me, better off. If you know who the racists are in your community or the sexists are, you're better off because then at least you can figure out how to deal with it. I apologize. I'm just trying to keep everybody on time. Thank you. So Franklin Polino, your 60-second response to the question poised to Keenan Christensen. Well, these races should be about the voters and the constituency should send the candidate a message. This behavior will not be tolerated. It was just a few years ago this behavior happened. It was a pattern. And rights and democracy has stood by their candidate. That's party over politics. Berlin Tony is no better. They'll see right through it. Yep. Transparency. Very good. We're going to move right on. We've got the phone tree lighting up here. So plenty of questions from the audience, from our constituents. So we'll move right on here to our line, too. Collar, you're on the air here with our North District candidates for city council. Your question, please. Yes. Good evening. My name is Delta. It's an I live in the North End, Ward 7, represented by each of these candidates if they are successful. May question concerns safety on North Avenue. What are your plans to make North Avenue a safer venue to travel as far as vehicles, pedestrians, bicycling, and any other mode of transportation? And if anyone comes up with the idea of more ballards and more planners, then you ain't getting my vote. What? I hope you got a better way of going about it than that. Okay. Thank you, Dale. The question was about making North Avenue safer and just for disclosure purposes. I have personally lost property as a result of the traffic change on North Avenue. So I am definitely concerned about this corridor of traffic, and I'm very interested in each of your response. Martha, or, excuse me, Erica Bundy Redick will begin with your answer to the question about North Avenue safety. I would love to have a really intelligent, well-articulated answer for this question. And frankly, I don't. My understanding is that there is a process already underway. The city already has a number of plans for lighting and sidewalks and da-da-da-da-da-da. And so, as a representative government, I'm going to trust that they're moving in the right direction. And, excuse me, Franklin Polino, your response? Thank you. So I would support the five-lighted crosswalks like they have on Pine Street. Yep. And then those need to happen as soon as possible. We shouldn't wait until the federal funds come in to play. We need bus pullouts so the buses can move out of the way, and they can stop and drop off their passengers easily and safely. We also need an ambulance service. We need an ambulance service. It's going to be on the ballot in 2020, but we need it as soon as possible. And we also need safer sidewalks for our senior citizens. It is unacceptable that the Heineberg senior citizens cannot take a leisurely walk around the building. Very good. Keenan Christensen, Christensen, a 60-second response, please. I wholeheartedly agree we need those lighted crosswalks. We were promised them two years ago, and we still don't have them. That's unacceptable. In addition to the lighted crosswalks, we need to make sure that we have the chirping devices on the crosswalks because we have a number of blind neighbors who cannot cross the street because they don't have the ability to know when the lights have changed because we don't have the chirping devices. In addition, I agree that the sort of armadillo bike barriers, along with the large plastic barriers, are ineffective, and we need to find a different solution. It's a waste of tax dollars to install them because they were already been taken out by plows. We need to find a better solution, and I think that we can do that by exploring better installments of a more permanent solution that includes green space. In addition, I think that we need to increase crosswalks near the bus stations because we have a number of people who are getting off the bus and don't have a crosswalk to cross at, resulting in folks darting across the street, and we need to fix that. And finally, we need to increase lighting along North Avenue because when it's dark at night, it's very difficult for folks to see, and it's very difficult for folks to see not only when they're walking along the sidewalk, but for drivers to see who's trying to cross the street. So more lights, more lighted crosswalks, get rid of those plastic barriers. Okay, we're going to move right on here. It looks like we don't have a question at this point from the audience, so we'll move on here to our questions that you've been provided with before, and we'll start with you, Franklin. Do you support the city's economic development strategy? And if not, what do you see as alternative proposals that you'd like to pursue? I do support what is Mayor Murrow, what he has done for the city. He's done a great job in putting the city on the right path. It's our job to continue his work and what he's done. I think that he's done a great job. I think City Place will be a very positive change. We need to grow Burlington in a smart way. We need to keep the Vermont image, attract new people, and keep the people that want to stay here. And that's why I propose affordable housing as well as part of my public safety platform. Kevin Christensen, the economic development strategy of Burlington, do you support it? I think that the economic development strategy for Burlington has been too focused on downtown, and in particular it's been too focused on what the developers need and not what the community needs. I think City Place would have been a great idea had the financing been in place and had City Council and the mayor done its job to ensure that before Don Sinek's broke ground that the financing was in place so that we didn't end up with a hole in the ground. I think what we really need is to not put all of our eggs in one basket and continue the economic development out into the New North End. We have some of the greatest restaurants down in the New North End. We have some of the greatest activity centers and I want to see more of that development coming out to the New North End. The New North End stands about 2.1 to 2.2 million dollars a year down to City Hall and it feels like very little of that money is coming back out to the New North End. I think we can do better and I think the New North End deserves better. All right. And Erica Bunny-Reddick, your thoughts on economic development? This was my favorite question that you sent us. I looked to answer this question I looked at CEDO's strategic plan for 2019 for the city and I mean there's a hundred things on the list but there were a few that really stuck out for me and one is reduction of regulatory barriers to building which is one of the biggest reasons that we have housing shortage well it's a reason that we have housing shortage and it's affecting people being able to keep property in the family so as an example my grandparents house in the New North End has some weird zoning issue that now I can't get a mortgage to buy it and the only person who's going to be able to is an investor who can pay cash for it so we're like losing our community because of silly regulations that don't make any sense one of the big ones that I love that they're planning to do is mapping the city to see where there are opportunities for building for growth where are there gaps in services and that way we can see like what do we actually need here and that way we can have I'm calling it conscious economic development rather than waiting until our infrastructure is crumbling and we're forced to seek outside investment to help us kind of catch back up let's start deciding who we want to come here like Champlain College as an example has a program where they teach video game development why doesn't EA Sports have a production site here that they can utilize all of these young college graduates so oh but there's so much more I'm sorry it's a great topic I understand we have a lot of callers dialing in and we like to answer their calls so we'll go right to the phones right now and caller you're on the line here with the North District City Council candidates do you have a question please I do yes my name is Andrew this question is for all of the candidates I want to know what you've been doing during the campaign to reach out to the residents and hear about issues affecting this community okay sort of a general question about what you've been doing to reach out to the community and answer some of the questions that they may have so Keenan I believe it's your turn to start so I started my campaign in early December and the first thing that I did was coordinate my campaign get as many of my neighbors involved as possible because this I wanted this campaign to be about people first I have been knocking on every on my neighbors doors I've personally knocked now on over 700 doors because I want to hear from my neighbors and I want to hear what issues are important to them I've had several house parties with our neighbors where we've had great discussions about all of the issues that are impacting the New North End I have gone again to over 700 doors to personally hear from folks because I'm invested in representing our community and making sure that your interests are being heard and finally I have been working very hard to ensure that our next city counselor puts the New North End's interests first and is really concerted on making sure that all of us thrive in the New North End not just those of us that can afford to thrive thank you Erika Bundy Redick, your outreach and what have you heard? Yeah that's a great question I have to tell you that I literally put my name in the hat like two weeks ago so I love that my cohorts here have been out there pounding the pavement I mean that's really what we have to do here is talk to the people because we can pontificate up here all we want and we can have coffee and speak anecdotally about what we think is going on but until you actually hear it so when I was walking around knocking on doors introducing myself to neighbors they were telling me about concern about the changes to the fire department and the ambulance services and their fears and really everyone is just afraid like they just want to live their life and they just want to be happy and so that's really ultimately the conversation that I've been having with people is like we just want to be happy and we don't want people to mess with our stuff and hey we're scared because there's a drug epidemic and things are falling apart and we don't know what to do but the worst thing that we could do is not actually just sit and be with one another because that's ultimately what this is we're in a community and we depend we're dependent on one another to make this thing work and so if we just stick in our little bubble and pretend like there's no one else out there that has a different opinion than me we're not going to get very far Colin Polino, what have your outreach efforts been like and what have you been hearing in the community? So one of the things I've done is go door to door and knock on people's doors and hear them out to hear their thoughts and concerns and in my campaign I've been running campaigns centered around Mr. Hartnett's endorsement of me because nobody knows the North End like Dave Hartnett nobody's been 20 years in a retail business working every day talking to people in the New North End and Dave's gone door to door with me day in and day out and we've had events at the Heinerberg Center we've employed social media strategies such as Facebook, Twitter you name it you've probably seen it and so I think what this campaign should be about is about the New North End and bringing new blood in there that's going to represent our people and be accountable to them and so we've posted on front porch forum there hasn't been an option we haven't used thus far and we'll continue to do that because I'm going to continue knocking on doors we've got about 4,000 doors in our wards so very good, okay we're going to continue to move on and go to our phone lines here for another question hello caller you're on the air here with our North District City Council candidates do you have a question for our candidates yeah, thank you a little over a week ago there was a horrifying attack on both the Pride Center and the synagogue and I'm wondering what each of the candidates will do to preserve our community, feel safe in Burlington thank you I believe Erica Bundy Redick this question starts with you, a horrifying attack that really illustrates intolerance and I think in our community we're seeing a rise of intolerance can you address that and what you think the City Council role plays in trying to tamp that down yeah, this is actually a really great question and I'm glad that I get to answer it I have literally been saying for years that the greatest thing that creates fear between races, sexes classes, whatever is lack of proximity and I say that because growing up as a white person in a predominantly white state I didn't I don't necessarily I can be empathetic to people of other races but I can't understand what they're going through because I lack proximity to them and so when I moved to Texas and I really got involved more in well my husband is black and all of his friends and family are every race that there is because he's a military brat and so you start to see what people are dealing with and then you get to better understand it and so as long as there's this barrier to being able to ask the stupid questions or the questions that are going to make you sound stupid because you've always wondered and you don't understand like when we don't have those opportunities and all the conversation just gets immediately shut down before as bad before anybody can really start to understand each other obviously I'm not saying like attacks on synagogues or okay right like no and we can judge them and we can punish them after the fact but what I would rather see is a community discourse where people are allowed to ask questions and be ignorant and stupid and not be judged for it so that they can better understand very good Franklin Paulino your 62nd response do you see intolerance on the rise in our city and if so what do you think the city council role is to tamp that down I think our role needs to be to lead by example I think our role needs to be to keep prosecuting people for hate crimes I think our role needs to be to encourage neighborhood watch groups I think we need to have a great police department so that if there is more of these attacks and that's what they should be called attacks that we can properly respond you know we're lucky enough to have a great police department and that has video cameras and we're able to prosecute these cases our office has done so and we've taken them to the supreme court and we'll continue to fight for the disenfranchised I think it's a very important issue I'm lucky to see and glad to see that city council president Kurt Wright allowed a resolution to pass on Monday that calling these attacks a terrible act and that we won't stand for that Kenan Christensen 62nd response intolerance on the rise acts of violence in our city I wholeheartedly agree with Franklin that we need to continue to support our criminal justice system and the folks out there that are doing the hard work to hold folks accountable but we can do more we need to continue having conversations with one another and engaging our community as a white person when I find out that a person of color feels like they're not welcome here I want to stand shoulder to shoulder with them that's why when there was a protest over these heinous acts I was there I showed up because I know that standing up and standing with our neighbors of color it's not just about criminal justice it's about engaging our community and having the difficult conversations that's why I'm all about hard work these conversations are hard they're going to take a lot of hard work to move us past these sort of racial stigmas and homophobic stigmas that many of us have felt but we need to have these conversations because it's how we're going to move forward and it's what's going to help us come together as a community because at the end of the day we're all neighbors and we're going to try and find the best path forward time, I apologize again the phone tree is lighting up here we're going to go to line one here and take another caller caller you're live on the air here with North District candidates for Burlington City Council do you have a question please caller caller we'll move right here to line two caller you're live on the air here with Burlington City Council candidates yes my question for the candidates if elected what factors would they consider when deciding whether to add a referendum question to the ballot when residents actually collect the required number of signatures very good question thank you in fact this is a question that we do have on our list of questions that all the candidates have been provided how should the city handle advisory questions Keenan Christiansen question to you please so I think if we're going to have a referendum process we need to respect it you know when it comes to the City Hall Park for example I was very much in favor of the park I'm on record as being in favor of the park but just because I'm in favor of the park doesn't mean that I think we should ignore the fact that over 3,000 of our citizens got the requisite signatures to be put on the ballot we need to respect the referendum process because just because I might disagree with a referendum on this structure doesn't mean that down the down the road I might agree with the next one referendum process we've got to respect it and again if 3,000 people put enough signatures on the ballot or get enough signatures to be put on the ballot they should be allowed to have their voices heard that's the kind of campaign I've been running this entire time is about hearing our voices and making sure that people can have their voices heard and if we're not going to respect the process that allows people to have their voices heard then we shouldn't have the process to begin with Erica Bundy Redick should every advisory question that the community would go on the city ballot or should the city council continue to make that decision I agree 100% with Keenan that if we have a process in place we need to honor it my understanding is that they did honor it with the city hall park issue and again from what I understand from what I've been told from other city council people is that for whatever reason they didn't meet all the criteria I don't know so he said she said things so whatever I'm not sure what I do know however is we have a representative government and if we aren't going to trust city council to do the job that we gave them to do then why do we have a city council at all and I guess that's really all I have to say about that Frank Lompolino your response all advisory questions automatically go on the ballot no and I think Erica said it best at the end there that you know city council members we're elected for a reason we're like to do our jobs so while I fully support certain questions getting on the ballot and people having their say the questions should be reviewed by the city council and we should frankly work together we you know city hall park is a great example there were 22 meetings held there was input there was a commission that was started and an agreement was made for between the groups against the renovation and with to establish this commission and then the petition process was started so while I think it's important to have advisory questions we also need to realize that at a certain point our citizens want us to get to work they want results and they want to get value for their tax dollars very good can I add something sure just a 30 seconds yeah that's fine the other thing about putting all of the advisory questions on the ballot and why we have a representative republic in to begin with is because we want to avoid mob rule and that sounds like crazy but that's ultimately like what they say is that the reason for representative republic is to make sure that people can't just go crazy and take over and that's my history lesson for the day and we'll allow Keenan a 30 second response as well the real difference between me and my opponents is that folks deserve to have their voices heard and I don't think that we should be politicizing the referendum process if the city council is going to pick and choose which referendum items they're going to put on the ballot that's going to be really dependent upon what issues they think are invaluable and which issues they don't if we're going to have a referendum process we've got to respect that process we're going to move on again we have three lighting up here we're just going to pick line four here Coller you're on the air live with city council candidates from the north district do you have a question please Hi my question was as a pedestrian I sometimes struggle to get around the new north end I was just wondering what the candidates are just doing in order to make Burlington more accessible for pedestrians and vikers specifically ok thank you we sort of address this question with north avenue safety I think we're actually going to move on only because we did address that so we'll take another question here Coller you're live on the air with city council candidates from the north district do you have a question for our candidates yes I do I was wondering what the candidates plan to address the opioid epidemic in Burlington is all right then Franklin we'll begin with you I think this is right up your alley actually so as a prosecutor here in Tinden County I've seen the opioid epidemic I was I couldn't say enough words about the press conference recently held showing that Tinden County is at the forefront of leading the decline in deaths as a result of overdoses I think we need to provide all the medications to prevent overdoses everywhere I think we need to provide fentanyl test strips everywhere as that we can I think it shouldn't be something that's limited access as well as we need more sober houses we need places for people to go immediately once they decide to make decision to go to remain sober and we need resources to help them get there I think that one of the things that is lacking right now is residential treatment centers and sober houses so I support a financing package with the city to subsidize a local to start a sober house because they can be amazing places for the health set program to get people in the right path I'm going to follow up here with a follow up question here that I'll also ask each of the candidates to answer as well there have been proposals about safe needle exchanges etc do you support that that proposal I do I think that we should be doing everything we can for our citizens we owe it to them and we should give it a try and I know it's not a concept that everybody's comfortable with or a mobile place where people can go and the place can go to where the need is and it can be publicized and a doctor can be on staff I think it's a great idea Keenan Christensen your response about the opioid epidemic and what you think the city council should do to try to address it here again I wholeheartedly agree with Franklin that many of the things that the city are doing regarding the opioid crisis is very good and it's helping a lot of folks I think there's two things that we can do I agree that we need sober houses and safe houses for folks to get clean but they need to be safe and they need to be regulated and we need to make sure that we're putting in a plan in place so that when folks get out of the sober houses or when they're getting out of treatment we have community support ready to step in you know when I was serving on the circles of support and accountability it's a group of members that get together that help prisoners transitioning out of prison and back into the community we can do something very similar for folks transitioning out of treatment so that they feel connected to the community I was talking to a principal on Woodbury Street who was telling me that many of her students are turning to opioids because they just don't feel like they have community connection we can find solutions to this by engaging the community by creating the similar sort of situation as a COSA for folks coming out of treatment so that when you come out you immediately step into a group of individuals who are going to be there if you need support if you just need someone to talk to that's one of the great ways we're going to stop the opioid epidemic and then to ask you as well do you support a safe needle exchange site absolutely wholeheartedly okay Erica Bunny ready yeah great question one that is very very close to my heart actually I'll be celebrating my 10 year sober anniversary next month so thank you not heroin but nonetheless addiction I don't want to say addiction is addiction but across the board people are turning to heroin gambling shopping like whatever it is and and it's been said like we don't feel like we're a part of a community anymore and when you have a generation of people who are you know going off to college because they were told to and then they get out and they can't get a job and they're broke and they're living in their parents basement like you're depressed and you feel lost and alone and so shooting dope seems like a wicked good idea and I don't mean to be flip about it but it's a community issue like it's a personal issue right but it's a community issue and the barriers frankly for re-entry whether it's out of treatment or prison is incredibly difficult we talk all the time about forgiveness and redemption but we talk about that when it relates to other people and not when it relates to us or when we've been hurt by it and your thoughts about safe needle exchange sites I would I I'm not sure I would want to know more statistical information about the benefits of that very good we're going to move right on we've got more questions here the phone tree is lighting up we're at channel 17 with our north district candidates for city council do you have a question for them yes thank you this question that concerns safety around letty park area over the last five to seven years we've had at least two deaths at letty park one involving a knife and last last year I believe one involving something that we don't know what happened in the last six to eight months the homeless community has built their homeless encampment to the actual parking lot of the shopping center where it's actually very intimidating for customers and employees of the shopping center because it sits right there thank you we'll address that with the candidates safety particularly around the letty park area this isn't related to traffic safety which we've already addressed this is more city safety and perhaps addressing the homeless population and kenan christensen will begin with you on this question I think that we need to increase the community services that we have in the new north end because part of the issue is that we don't have the same sort of resources that other parts of the city have this is why I talk about reinvesting in the new north end we're sending 2.1 to 2.2 million dollars down to city hall a year and we're seeing very little of that going back into our communities the safety issue is really important we need to be supporting our police officers who can go in there and can take care of some of the crime that's taking place but we've got to address housing affordability because we have an increasing homelessness problem because folks can't afford to stay in their homes and we have to find a solution to housing affordability and I use the phrase housing affordability instead of affordable housing because housing affordability impacts all of us and it makes it we have to find a solution whether you're on a fixed income or whether you're a new family or whether you're a new American you have the support to stay in your home to find housing and to live a life that is really a thriving life and not one that you're just struggling to get by Franklin Paulino your response safety in the new north end particularly around the Letty Park area I think that our new north enders deserve to be safe I think that increased police presence is a great idea but what we also really need are wet shelters we need a shelter that homeless people can go to and they can they don't have to not be able to drink and that's why as well I support the sober houses because that is the reason why we have a housing crisis and why certain people choose to live behind Hanifers so it's unfortunate that that's the choice they have to make but I think I agree with Keenan that if we had more housing options for people that included the ability to drink they wouldn't choose to live behind Hanifers I'm assuming nobody wants to live there Erica Bundy Redick your thoughts on safety in the new north end particularly around the north around the Letty Park area yeah this it's funny because it seems really like all of the things that we've been talking about relate to one another so when we're talking about a heroin epidemic who else is going to end up homeless living behind Hanifers but somebody who's dealing with mental health issues someone who's dealing with addiction and so there has to be a more comprehensive approach and I don't know who was here if you guys lived here when Waterbury the mental health facility closed wasn't that in the 90s was it I can't remember right after Hurricane Irene well I like as our mental health facilities have continued to close because I remember there was one that closed when I was around 20 maybe it wasn't Waterbury, maybe it was Brattleboro or something but we just don't have the resources and when you go to places like Los Angeles or San Francisco and you see these homeless encampments that's what happens from unchecked dealing with a population of people that frankly nobody wants to deal with because no one knows what to do we'll move right on here we have only five minutes left so we're going to get to our next caller here caller you're live on the air with our North District City Council candidates do you have a question for them yes I was just wondering if you all think the current city government has done enough to consider and hear residents perspectives the question was do you think has done enough to hear current residents do you think that the current city council the current city government is responding to the needs of the city and Franklin we'll begin with you on this I think that our city government has been responsive to its constituency I think in this day and age you know there are multiple platforms that can be used to communicate I mean I talked about them earlier so in addition to being able to post on front porch forum which I see our city councilors doing I think that Twitter as well as Facebook are great mediums to be able to be connected to the community I saw our city councilors at the NPA meeting so I do believe that everybody is trying their best to do what they can I understand no one's ever going to be happy so I understand that that is part of the balance but I you know having had the opportunity to meet most of the city councilors I do believe they're doing a great job at being you know being responsive to the constituency very good. Erica Bundy Rettich your response do you think city council is responding to the community's needs I do I think that we are all human beings doing the best that we can do I think all of our city councilors are awesome and perfect no because they're human beings and no one is and when you live in a community of diverse people of different opinions and backgrounds and things like that you're almost never going to have consensus on an issue and so what I've learned in my experience not just in government and in business is there's no perfect answer there's only trade-offs so you do the best that you can given the information that you have the resources that you have and then you move around Kenan Christensen what's your thoughts on city council and city government and its response to the community's needs I agree for the most part with my opponents that city council and city government has been doing a pretty good job of listening to our neighbors but I think we can do more I think we can support our NPAs because I think that our NPAs are one of the great drivers of local democracy and I think that we really need to be supporting our NPAs and doing more to promote that kind of engagement what I love about the NPAs is it's an opportunity not only for city councilors and our elected officials to come in and hear directly from their constituents but it allows us to have a conversation between city hall city council and the neighborhoods that are being impacted I remember in the 90s that our NPAs had robust budgets and now they have very small budgets of about $400 and we need to be doing more to support our NPAs because that's how we're going to engage more citizens I think that having a community dinner up in the new north end would be another great way to get more folks down to the NPAs I agree that social media is another great aspect of it but our NPAs are something very special and something that we should really be supporting Time now for our closing statements we apologize to our viewers out there whose questions we weren't able to get to on the phone but it is time now for our closing comments from our candidates 60 seconds a piece Franklin Paulina will begin with you please I want to thank you for the opportunity of being able to run and being the Democratic candidate I think it's an honor whoever gets the opportunity to represent the north district in the last few weeks I've been knocking on doors taking phone calls and meetings nonstop in an effort to try to reach out to as many people and let them know who I am because I am not an issue based candidate I'm running on my record and my values I have a record of asking tough questions and getting and making the just decision if I was a constituency a constituent I would want to vote for the person that I feel I can trust that I feel has a record for fighting for what's right and realistic results we need a common sense approach and a strong voice that will bring people together that's what you get when you vote me in I hope to have your support on March 5th Kenny Christensen your final second closing statement please as I said at the beginning of this debate I believe in excellence through hard work and that's what you're going to get if you elect me I have been running since early December I didn't start I didn't wait for someone to ask me to run I ran because I knew it was my time to run because I knew our neighborhood need a strong voice on city council and I knew that folks just didn't feel like their voices were being heard I know that working together we can find solutions to fixing the affordability crisis in Burlington that by engaging one another and having these really difficult conversations we can find solutions to not only safety on North Avenue but we can find solutions to climate change and we can bring community services out to the New North End I have been tirelessly knocking doors for six weeks now I have knocked on over 700 doors and I'm going to continue that hard work when I'm elected as your next city councillor thank you Erica Bundy Reddick your final closing statement please thank you everyone for being here and being with us and and being involved the most important and really the only thing that we have to do as citizens of this country and the city is vote that is our one most important job in my opinion and I am super excited for the opportunity to be a part of helping keep Burlington amazing we have something really unique and really special here and I brag all the time when I travel about how independent thinking Vermonters are and how fiercely prideful we are and and also fiercely loyal and how much we love our community and love our neighbors and love all of the buildings and the environment and the trees and and we can keep all of those things and bring conscious economic development so that the burden of taxes is not on the 56 percent of listed properties that are taxable so let's bring some business here thank you my thanks to our candidates for joining us here this evening and very best of luck to each of them on March 5th a reminder that early voting is underway you can request your ballot at your local town clerk and join us for complete election night coverage on Tuesday March 5th beginning at 7 p.m. here on Channel 17 for all of us at town meeting television I'm Matt Kelly thank you for watching