F-35 foes are escalating their protests against hosting the next-generation fighter plane at Burlington’s Air Guard station in anticipation of a final decision after November 4. About 100 demonstrators jammed the hallway outside Burlington City Hall Auditorium on Monday evening to hear Progressive city councilors and leaders of the anti-F-35 coalition denounce the plan. A brass band on the steps of city hall serenaded protestors arriving for the rally (pictured, right).

“Burlington,” activist Paul Fleckenstein told the cheering crowd, “can be the Waterloo of the F-35.”

F-35 opponents are focusing their lobbying efforts on three Democratic city councilors: Kevin Worden (Ward 1), Bryan Aubin (Ward 4) and Tom Ayres (Ward 7). If the three targeted Dems vote with the council’s four Progs and independent Sharon Bushor (Ward 1) — and if Mayor Miro Weinberger approves — Burlington could still go on record as rejecting the Air Force’s plan to station up to two dozen F-35s at the city-owned airport. Such an expression of opposition by the Air Force’s “preferred” host city might influence the final basing decision expected in less than a month.

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Kevin J. Kelley is a contributing writer for Seven Days, Vermont Business Magazine and the daily Nation of Kenya.

12 replies on “F-35 Foes Making Final Push to Sway Burlington City Council”

  2. F35s should not be here, they should not be anywhere as they are not needed. Pork barrel spending is literally destroying this country and accepting it for our own personal gain is making us all part of the problem.

  3. The F-35 has no place being here, at least until it’s actually functioning and flying properly, the crash rate is deemed safe for a residential area airport (a first round basing has always been relegated to Air Force bases for that reason). The opponents, even people in the Air Force and Air Guard say, ‘it’s not that loud’. Are we to believe the Air Force report that puts 8,000 +/- people in an area the FAA classifies as ‘unsuitable for residential use’ is incorrect? If so – then shouldn’t we be sure it’s correct?

  5. Don’t give liberals a bad name by lumping them in with the crazies who seem to dominate the political culture of Burlington. These people are not liberals. They are guilty white hippie socialist-pretenders with money.

  6. I would not base them in neighborhoods, I would not base them in the woods, I would not base them near the fountain, I would not base them on a mountain. I do not like F-35s, what I do not like I vilifies.

  7. Anyone who walks on a public sidewalk, drives on a public road or highway, goes to a public school, uses a public library, opens a faucet for municipal water, flushes a toilet which is on a municipal waste water system, or uses electricity from a municipal system is a socialist since he/she is using something that was built with common funds for everyone to use. Please buy yourself a good dictionary.

  8. Basing the F35 in South Burlington will destroy affordable housing in an area that desperately needs it. Pro-F35 ribbons are green for a reason that has nothing to do with mountains.
    I lived in South Burlington, walking distance from the airport, for 3 years. I remember the battle over Interim zoning, when the city council was all about Community Preservation. Between this and the destruction of housing on Dorset Street for Trader Joe’s (and I like Trader Joe’s), I have to wonder what all of the fuss was about. I guess Community Preservation is only for wealthy communities.

  9. The laudable existence of certain government infrastructure does not equal socialism. Look up the definition of that word and get a clue.

  11. I’m certainly not happy with the anti-everything socialist-wannabe hippies who attempt to run Burlington via knee-jerk, left wing ideology, rather than reason. No. I’m certainly not. But I’m obviously no unhappier than those people themselves are. They’re unhappy about everything: F-35s, the Burlington police, the “1%,” evil corporations, nuclear power, wind power, fracked gas. The list goes on and on and on.
    So who’s unhappy?

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