Burlington Faces Budget Problems
Article regarding Burlington’s budget crisis, my reaction and possible solutions.
Fluoridation Debate at City Council
The following is an article from the Free regarding the fluoride debate at the last city council meeting…
Be a Better Neighbor
There was a recent article in the Free Press regarding Vermont bars and clubs and smokers blocking sidewalks and making a mess. I will read the article now…
School Choice
I would like to now share some thoughts I’ve had while researching the idea of school choice.
Community Schools
The following was an article recently published in the Burlington Free Press regarding the recent proposal to close down Barnes and Wheeler schools…
Commercial Free Schools
There a new group called Citizens for Commercial-Free Schools (CCFS)which is a group of Burlington parents and community members working since Spring 2005 to remove corporate and military advertising from our public schools.
Campaign begins
Today, Heavenly and I met with Alan Sousie who ran the last two years here in ward 7. He has volunteered to help our campaign and we discussed various issues with him as well as some campaign strategy. We determined that we must get started as soon as possible, starting with getting the paperwork from the city clerk’s office for getting us on the ballot.
76-78 Cherry Street
One of the major topics discussed at the last city council meeting was the 76-78 Cherry Street building which is owned by the Catholic diocese. The Catholic diocese decided they wanted the building to be torn down so they could do something else with the property. However, councilor’s Shannon, Montrell and Perry along with Preservation Burlington wanted to not allow the Catholic Diocese the permit to take down their own building because they believe it has some historic and architectural value.
Resolution regarding property tax burden facing Burlington residents
Coucilors Bushor and Fiermonte introduced a resolution to help with the heavy property tax burden facing Burlington residents. The resolution states that the current procedure that pays much of education costs statewide is “convoluted and not well understood by taxpayers” and asks that the city’s representatives to that state Legislature work to revise the property tax system.
Resolutions to lower the cost to the city of the retirement system for city employees
The Board of Finance proposed a resolution to lower the cost to the city of the retirement system for city employees. The resolution, noting that city contributions to the retirement fund jumped from about $1.5 million in fiscal year 2002 to $4.6 million this year and are “still not sufficient to meet the actuarially projected future costs.”
Bar smokers shown the door
It’s now official… no smoking in any public or private bars, restaurants and clubs. It’s unbelievable to me… The businesses along with their employees and customers cannot even decide on their own whether they want to allow smoking or not.