Burlington city attorney Eileen Blackwood made it clear Monday night: The mayor and police chief would not say more than they already have about their attempts to dispute the autopsy report for a man who died after a confrontation with a cop last month.
City councilors had hoped to get answers from Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo about their intervention efforts but heard more of the same during the discussion hosted in a packed City Hall conference room.
“The chief and I have been questioned again and again by members of the media … about the actions that took place here. We have shared as much as we can about that,” Weinberger said. “The attorney general does not want the facts of the case discussed any further.”
Weinberger said “there’s a difference of opinion” about why he and del Pozo contacted state officials regarding chief medical examiner Steven Shapiro’s ruling that 54-year-old Douglas Kilburn’s manner of death was a homicide. Kilburn was found dead in his home March 14, three days after Burlington officer Cory Campbell punched him repeatedly in the face. The medical examiner concluded that other underlying health factors also likely contributed to Kilburn’s death.
Once Vermont State Police finish their investigation, “reasonable people” will understand “the actions that we took,” Weinberger said.
Blackwood instructed councilors to only ask questions about what’s been publicly reported in the media — everything else would need to be discussed in executive session, she said.
But after 45 minutes, none of the 11 councilors present moved to enter a closed session, which would have presumably permitted more candor from the mayor and chief and would have allowed councilors to watch body camera footage of the March 11 confrontation. Councilor Franklin Paulino (D-North District), a deputy Chittenden County state’s attorney, recused himself because of a potential conflict with his job and left the room.
Councilor Ali Dieng (D/P-Ward 7), one of two elected officials who requested to hear from Weinberger and del Pozo, said his aim was simply to learn why they got involved.
“Many people have so many questions and concerns, and we need those questions to be answered,” he said.
Councilor Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) asked Weinberger and del Pozo why they contacted Gov. Phil Scott’s office and Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine, respectively, before Shapiro’s report was made public and not after. Tracy wondered if they’d do the same if a similar situation arose again.
Del Pozo said he thought that talking to Levine beforehand was more appropriate than engaging in a public squabble. Weinberger said the city attorney had no issues with him and del Pozo questioning the “unusual” autopsy finding.
Councilor Perri Freeman (P-Central District) wondered why Shapiro’s credibility was questioned at all, but Blackwood stopped that line of questioning.
“We’re getting into the details of what happened,” she said.
Councilor Sharon Bushor (I-Ward 1) asked if Blackwood could clarify the difference between “homicide” and “murder,” but city officials wouldn’t go there.
“I don’t see how to answer that question without getting into the standards the medical examiner used to make the determination,” Weinberger said.
Shortly after, Council President Kurt Wright (R-Ward 4) recessed the special meeting and convened the regularly scheduled one upstairs, where two community members urged the council to hold the officials accountable. Charles Winkleman named two other Vermonters killed by Burlington police — Wayne Brunette in 2013 and Phil Grenon in 2016 — and said officials have done nothing.
“Who will be held responsible for this? You are the only ones left to be a check on the mayor and the police chief,” Winkleman said. “What changes will we see from you?”
Brian Waters suggested Kilburn was killed for “being in the way” and urged the council to view the body camera footage.
Later in the meeting, councilors heard a long-awaited briefing on the CityPlace Burlington mall development — though that, too, did not yield much new information.
Will Voegele, senior vice president at managing partner Brookfield Properties Development, could not answer councilors’ primary question: When will the mall project be shovel-ready?
Instead, he said company representatives have regularly been in Burlington since Brookfield’s last city council update in January and are currently waiting on construction bids to return. He confirmed the project’s financing is solid.
Several councilors complained communication has not been frequent enough. Councilor Karen Paul (D-Ward 6) said she wants to see Brookfield at council meetings more often even if there isn’t much to say.
Councilor Chip Mason (D-Ward 5) said the public perception is that the project isn’t happening, and if councilors seem pushy, it’s “to prove to the public this is real.”
Months of delays have plagued the development. Don Sinex, a minority partner in the project, once promised that the controversial 14-story mall redevelopment would be completed by January 2019. Little has happened at the site since last August.
Even though he couldn’t provide a date certain for construction, Voegele said getting there is his team’s primary focus. He promised to deliver the councilors a more detailed update in writing in the next few days.
Closing the discussion, Wright homed in on councilors’ biggest concern: “You are still 100 percent behind this project?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Voegele said.
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Miro is probably getting a cut of what Glassberg is getting!
I’m also interested in learning more about Jeff Glassberg and his role. If he’s supposed to “guide this project to completion” then he should probably be fired for incompetence as he’s been in that position for 10 months now and there has been zero quantifiable progress.
What the hell is the guy doing? Taxpayers are still paying for his “service.” The Mayor will claim the developer is paying paying Glassberg’s “consulting fees” but that claim is wildly misleading as the money is coming from TIF….which is still taxpayer money and could otherwise be used on nearby infrastructure like the City Hall Park renovation (which has spiraled in cost to 3x more than what the Mayor initially quoted 2-3 years ago).
Glad to see enough people were not buying the BS from NorthOldEnder. Sounds like he is the one who was handling the shovel.
What Steve Goodkind doesn’t tell you is he is one of the people that filed suit that delayed this project.
FLIPP, so according to the city supposedly Don the con owns the land now where city place was supposed to be built or is that another one of Miro’s fairy tales? Between him and the BPD they can’t seem to get their stories straight….
Brookfields Got Talent! Theyre conducting a nationwide search for the next Don Sinex!
Excerpts from a current Help Wanted ad, posted on LinkedIn three plus weeks ago:
“[Brookfield] is seeking a talented Senior Project Manager to be responsible for all onsite construction activity for our CityPlace Burlington mixed-use development project.”
“Develops effective communications and mechanisms to ensure project coordination with the Owner, Design and Construction participants.”
“Ensures that development and construction activities move according to contract schedule.”
“Experience working with the City of Los Angeles preferred.”
Personally Im pretty juiced about the “talented” qualifier for Senior Project Manager, as that should weed out the otherwise inevitable welter of untalented real estate developer hucksters and con artists, along with their inevitable empty promises, outright lies, and ever-changing project start dates. And the call for “Experience working with the City of Los Angeles” is a think-outside-the-box stroke of genius!”
So kudos to Mayor Weinberger and City Council for keeping an eye on the prize and for holding Brookfield’s feet to the fire! The 7K Burlington shells out monthly to Development Consultant Jeffrey Glassberg “to provide sustained overall leadership to the project team, interact with the developer and facilitate progress among the many parties with interests in the project”, is looking more and more like a pretty shrewd investment!
There can be little doubt that any day now that Brookfield, plans to share additional exciting news and updates about their nationwide talent search for the next Senior Project Manager for CityPlace!
The CityPlace project and most downtown/ONE census blocks are in Opportunity Zones. Governor Scott designated 25 census tracts as Opportunity Zones. Incomes in Vermont are much lower than urban areas so a greater proportion of our census blocks qualified compared to other states.
Other Opportunity Zones include the entire City of Winooski, much of South Burlington (including the new Market Street development), west-side of Pine Street (down to Flynn Ave/Oakledge), Rutland, Vergennes, Barre, etc.
https://accd.vermont.gov/OpportunityZones
@Steve Goodkind, you nailed it. To those of us looking at the hole in the ground every day though, we kind of thought they had a plan before tearing down half the mall and putting up all those signs inviting us to live, work and shop in the soon-to-be-delivered Mecca that is their splendiferous project!
Seven things can be gleaned from Brookfield’s statements to the city council.
1) They want to do a project.
2) Exactly what the project will be is still under review.
3) Financing has not been secured and key hurdles must be cleared before it is.
4) There is no committed timetable for this project.
5) Based on all the above, their claim that the project is out to bid seems highly suspect. More likely, they are pricing out the project and will use the information as part of their decision making regarding the four items mention above.
6) We can expect changes to the project.
7) Don’t expect construction to begin soon.
@leaterhune
Does the CityPlace project qualify for the Opportunity Zone fund designed for “low-income” urban and rural areas? Would be interesting to find out.