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Dave S
Member since Oct 19, 2016
Recent Comments
Re: “Acting Chief Had Her Own Fake Social Media Account — and Has Been Replaced”
It seems to me that maybe the best response is for the police department to abandon social media altogether. And maybe ditto for our City and school system. What I have seen in each of these cases is:
1. Public officials try and use social media as a public relations and information dissemination tool.
2. These forums get taken over by extremist activists (on the right or left), pushing out all civil discourse and reasoned opinion.
3. The forums then no longer serve their original purpose - informing the public - but instead become private masturbation rooms for people whose egos far outsize their abilities, with Charles Winkleman being the textbook example of this.
4. The end result is that no public good is served by social media, and good people are chased away from ever serving in public roles. I'm fearful for the public search for both police chief and school superintendent look like in the coming months.. Will Burlington be able to attract quality candidates, or will they be chased away by BTV's "activist" community?
Posted by
Dave S
on 12/17/2019 at 8:52 AM
Re: “Hire Anxiety: Layoffs Jolt Burlington-Area Tech Sector”
From the story: "This tech ecosystem needs to be large enough that workers can both climb the career ladder and move laterally to other tech companies if they want or need to, as in the case of layoffs. The relatively small size of Burlington's tech sector can make that a challenge."
I would replace "tech ecosystem" with "the economy." As a skilled professional over 45, the choices for me (an most of my friends) at this stage in life are:
1. Leave the state if you and your family are willing (most aren't) and can find work elsewhere
2. Take a pay cut and move laterally (or more likely, downward) to another small, local employer that also offers few or no opportunities to learn and grow
3. Sit in that same desk where you sit now, and count the days until retirement.
Nobody wins in any of these scenarios, but that is the reality of working in this state.
Posted by
Dave S
on 11/07/2019 at 9:08 AM
Re: “Burlington Farmers Market Vendors Assess First Summer on Pine Street”
Wait, I thought it was downtown parking we were all supposed to complain about. But now suddenly the parking downtown is fantastic, and parking 80 yards away at the Maltex building is unbearable? There is always the U Mall lot in front of Party City--tons of parking and indoor bathrooms to boot!
Posted by
Dave S
on 10/29/2019 at 4:57 PM
Re: “Dining on a Dime: Tomgirl Kitchen”
"With a few squirts of cilantro-lime-curry dressing, lunch was served. I ate at a picnic table outside the Soda Plant."
So....was it any good?
Posted by
Dave S
on 09/05/2019 at 11:12 AM
Re: “142-Room Hotel Proposed for Burlington YMCA Building”
I'm fine with most development downtown, but the title of this story should really be "How to Lie with Architectural Renderings." It's interesting to see how the six-story hotel appears to be the exact same height as the 3.5 story YMCA from both north and south views. For comparison, six stories is also the height of the (awesome) new Ealge's Landing/Champlain College building on St Paul Street.
It will also be interesting to see how tourists handle the one-way, one lane drop off zone...I doubt "reduced congestion" will be the result.
Posted by
Dave S
on 05/07/2019 at 8:27 AM
Re: “Emails Detail Conflict in Choosing Burlington School Principals”
To clarify:
Every Burlington school except Edmunds was looking for a new principal this year (I think this is correct, but am not 100% sure)
BHS, drawing from a limited pool of candidates, had all three finalists drop out the day before a public forum, with no explanation why. This left the superintendent's hand-picked candidate as the only option available.
Parent surveys, requested by the district to provide input on the hiring process, were only made public if they supported the district's views.
These are not opinions, but facts. And they speak loudly.
Posted by
Dave S
on 04/12/2019 at 9:26 AM
Re: “New American Students Make a Music Video About the Thrill of School”
This is America!