This drink goes down anything but easy.
An unknown artist created a series of at least four satirical postcards using old Kool-Aid ads to mock Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and city councilors who are in favor of a zoning amendment that will allow developer Don Sinex to build up to 14 stories high.
“An appreciative City Council says … ‘Mayor knows best,’” reads the riff on a vintage advertisement. The original shows a family paying tribute to Mom, whose head in the edited version has been replaced by Weinberger’s. It reads: “He keeps Kool-Aid in the ice box by the pitcher full — and they’re drinking it!”
The altered ads were distributed at the South End Art Hop last weekend and were posted Sunday on the Facebook page belonging to the Stop the 14-Story Mall group. The post came one day before the council passed by a 7-4 vote the amendment that will allow the Burlington Town Center redevelopment to go forward. A public hearing and final vote on the proposal is scheduled for September 29.
“They were at Art Hop, but I don’t know who did it,” said Caryn Long, a member of the Coalition for a Livable City group, which has long opposed the Sinex proposal. “It wasn’t the coalition. I saw them; I thought they were cool and funny.”
Genese Grill, another Coalition for a Livable City member, told Seven Days by email that someone anonymously dropped off the artwork outside the door of the 8 Space Studio Collective on Howard Street.
The artistic expression, though, didn’t sit well with City Councilor Joan Shannon, who decried on Facebook the “baseless ridicule” of “people who step up to serve the City.”
Shannon, who supported the proposal at Monday’s meeting, is portrayed in one of the ads as a child, a bow in her hair, raising a glass of Kool-Aid toward “Mother” — Weinberger.
“That’s not a recipe for encouraging people to serve,” she wrote on Facebook in reply to the images. “That said, I do like my bow.”
In a phone call Thursday, Shannon admitted the images are pretty funny, but she stuck by her concern that such attacks could dissuade people from running for local political office.
“I don’t want Burlington politics to go the way national politics has gone — making a mockery of it,” she said. “That was my only concern.”
Weinberger was not a fan of the artwork. “I believe strongly in democratic debate,” he said in a statement emailed to Seven Days. “I don’t believe that the debate should devolve into misinformation and offensive personal attacks.”
Weinberger went on to decry an image of him pouring Kool-Aid into a glass held by the city council president. “I am particularly disappointed by this poster, which questions the motivations and character of one of our best public servants. Anyone who thinks the City Council president is blindly following my plan without good reason does not know Jane Knodell, and is ignoring her thoughtful work on this issue.”
Art Hop featured another redevelopment protest when members of the Coalition for a Livable City released a two-minute video, projected on the side of a South End building, that slammed the Sinex proposal and encouraged residents to demand a public referendum on the project.
“City Hall is pushing spot zoning,” the video warned, “bowing to Sinex’s demands. This whole process was rushed, and dissent was crushed. Without your help, we will lose our town.”
The Art Hop political protest pieces were in the same vein as those displayed at last year’s event, when a group of artists erected “Miroville,” a faux housing development and advertisement that mocked Weinberger’s proposal to allow new housing in the Pine Street Enterprise Zone. The group worried the proposal would gentrify the South End and force artists out of the area.
As the artistic display went up, Weinberger changed course and pulled his support of the housing plan.
The mayor’s office told Seven Days that the art installation was not directly responsible for Weinberger’s change of heart, which came after months of public objection to the housing plan.
Updated, September 16, 2016 to add the statement from the mayor’s office and clarify timing of Weinberger’s decision on South End housing.
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Drinking the Kool Aid is now defined thus: demonstrating unquestioning obedience or loyalty to someone, or something [like an idea]. “his real ire is directed at the news media for drinking the Kool-Aid and not being tougher on the [mayor].”
Regarding the proposed downtown overlay district, not only are decision makers not asking the tough questions, they are perpetuating myths that have been debunked by experts: ~average renter in Burlington pays 44% of income for housing, market rates will decline if more housing is built, ~carbon footprint of cities is less than suburban areas, ~dense high-rise downtown development will bring prosperity to Burlington.
If incremental taxes are such a sure thing, why has Burlington required three extensions on our TIFs? Voters approved a 20 year TIF (using incrememtal taxes to pay off debt) that has now been extended to 36 years. Meanwhile, there are costs associated with growth that burden municipal budgets, and sidewalks crumble, raw sewage is dumped into the lake, public buildings are neglected. Wake up Burlington! Height, density, and TIFs are not the answer.
Great political satire with a strong wiff of truth to it. It’s a lot more honest than the pure baloney that the mayor fabricated about me during the last mayoral campaign. He has much to learn about honest public discours.
Steve Goodkind
Cutting edged humor.. we need more creativity to offset the boorishly unimaginative humongous BTC design that threatens Burlington to start a city wide too tall buildout. We deserve better,
I understand that people could be insulted by the cards or the slideshow/movie – many people felt insulted by the relentless push of the Council’s process which was custom-tailored to this project. It is not the only offer the city will ever get – we (those who feel the issue should be put to a public vote) would love to see things happening downtown – but some feel it should be up to Vermonters, and that the profits should stay in VT. I feel the developer should foot the bill if he’ll make the profit – the millions he would like from the city should perhaps go to the schools. I hope the Mayor doesn’t feel too insulted by those cards – I think the artist simply used the Mayor’s face to make his or her point. As far as being “a project that’s been in process for years” – that’s how every project here gets done. Why would we make such a change to the city without a public vote? How can we leave the decision to those who stand to profit? We had just set up a new zoning plan – Plan BTV. Let’s build something within that zoning that will profit the entire city and keep its unique character. As far as the pre-development agreement: Abraham Lincoln said, “A bad promise is better broken than kept.”
Has Joan Shannon voted against any of Miro’s policy proposals? Ever?!?!… seriously… everybody knows Shannon is in Miro’s pocket and his primary mouthpiece on the council… especially when it comes to development… And then they act all hurt when somebody creatively and humorously calls them on it?… what a bunch of babies!!!
Alexander, it must be nice to be so sure you know whats best for all of us. I’m certain that you have learned a lot during your less than 10 years as an adult on this planet, studying city planning and sociology and such. “Your” city? I beg to differ. Burlington and Vermont in general has been anti-development and anti-business for so long, getting one decent development project every 20 years or so really shouldn’t get your milk curdled. I’m glad you have such a firm idea of what you want “your” city to not be like, however, to assume that the majority is with you is to be sorely mistaken. The logical fallacies in your post are too numerous to list, but for one, to make broad sweeping generalizations of what the future holds for Burlington based on a single project which has been in process for years, is just the tip of the iceberg.
I made the video because I love my town. The cards I can’t claim; they indicate actual talent. I respect the mayor and everybody on city council because I know they are doing what they feel is best even if it’s totally illegal and imperils our people.
A tide of development will polish this city up, raise our population markedly, and correspondently escalate the cost of living from high to astronomical. This is setting up a “new normal” for housing and development that those elites who descend upon our city will be happy to pay. That’s fine–except that we already have a bunch of people here who are holding on by a thread.
This is the face of gentrification. I’ve seen it in Brooklyn, New Orleans, and Raleigh/Durham with my own eyes. The leaders of the business community are compelled to favor wealth over poverty amongst the populace. After all, those people have money to spend. It’s an objectionable attitude but it’s what they call vibrancy. I bristle at the bottom-line monetarists because there are forms of wealth that you cannot deposit in a bank and once lost they never return. Just look at your beautiful city!
My city government is supposed to be more than cheerleaders for eager developers with deep pockets. They are supposed to fight for my interests. Most of city council, by indulging this mania, is off course. So now we step in to bring the discussion back the working people of Burlington in the tradition of those dedicated souls who spent decades checking the immense powers that threaten our way of life. Our city history compels us to stand up for it.
We can defeat this gentrification assault on our city. Kill the 14-story mall. Please turn out to protest at City Hall on Sept 29. Development for the people not the 1%…………$inexit
A fourteen story building in downtown Burlington will stand out like an upraised middle finger to those who value Burlington’s sense of scale and proportion. But, what should people expect from Miro the Wonderboy and his development happy cronies?
For those who don’t know, the “Drinking the Kool-Aid” phrase derives from the November 1978 Jonestown deaths, in which over 900 members of the Peoples Temple, who were followers of Jim Jones, drunk a sweetened drink laced with cyanide, blindly following him in committing suicide.
The posters seem very creative. And apropos, as the Council is rushing this project through, as last week’s very divided Council vote showed.
Joan Shannon’s comments are out of place. Not only is she a realtor, but as a long time Councilor, along with Jane Knodell, Kurt Wright, and Sharon Bushor…who’s combined tenure on the Council is approximately 50 years…anyone else in their district doesn’t have an opportunity to “step up and serve”. How about “step down” and give others an opportunity? Maybe the Burlington Council needs term limits.