Letters to the Editor (7/23/25)

A Short-Term Rental Is ‘Not a Home’

[Re “Burlington Short-Term Rental Fight Will Continue in Environmental Court,” June 10]: So, once again, a group of people who operate short-term rentals and do not live there — which a City of Burlington regulation passed in 2022 makes illegal — are stalling. Keep that money flowing in! Owners, investors and LLCs lobbied for and got an extra year of bookings in 2022, but that wasn’t enough. It looked like a win for the city when the Vermont Supreme Court recently decided in the city’s favor: no short-term rental unless the owner lives there.

Now we read the short-term rental owners and investors and their lawyer are taking the city to yet another court; this will be the third time trying to find a way to keep the money flow going. Housing shortage? Negative impact on neighborhoods? Meanwhile, there is no enforcement, no fines. And who pays each time the city has to go to court to uphold this law? Taxpayers: you and me.

Such an illegal short-term rental house is on our street. Out-of-state cars fill the driveway on weekends. The house looks abandoned during the week; no one lives there. A gap in the caring neighborhood. No one to help each other out. Might as well have dollar signs written all over it. It is not a home.

When will owners and investors stop?

Diana Carlisle

Burlington

Portraits of Humanity

Thank you for alerting the community to the gathering that featured an outdoor exhibit of portraits of some of our unhoused community members, along with some examples of their art [“Being Seen: An Artist Created Portraits of Homeless People Who Live Around Burlington. She Found Both Strength and Vulnerability — and Artists in Their Midst,” June 25]. Many who greeted us and helped out are regulars at “the Share,” a gathering that provides food and companionship late each Sunday afternoon at the First United Methodist Church. On this beautiful Sunday afternoon on the church lawn, we marveled at the portraits and accompanying stories and enjoyed conversations, music and refreshments. Notably, more than a few of the Share participants entertained us with flute, guitar and song and gave moving testimonials. The portraits do indeed capture the strength, vulnerability and humanity of these neighbors. I hope the exhibit will find other venues around Burlington to showcase them.

Carol Jean Suitor

Shelburne

Questionable Exposure

[Re “Being Seen: An Artist Created Portraits of Homeless People Who Live Around Burlington. She Found Both Strength and Vulnerability — and Artists in Their Midst,” June 25]: I love your paper and most of your content but have concerns about this article, as it fails to take into consideration all the community members and families that have tried and continue to try to help. I am sure some were surprised to see their relatives and friends in this article. Those of us who are local see them daily. Bonding with the homeless can take place unfortunately almost everywhere these days. Not sure putting their photos on display is an asset to them.

Mary McMahon

Burlington

Good Schooling

Thank you for such an excellent and informative piece of reporting [“Learning Curve: As They Revamped the State’s Education System, Vermont Legislators Navigated the Long-Standing Conflict Between Public and Independent Schools,” July 2]. As the Vermont House and Senate struggled with education reform, I found it impossible to follow the proceedings. My frustration was exacerbated by the fact that I had previously served three terms in the House and believed I understood the process.

Reporters Hannah Bassett and Alison Novak made sense of a cloudy situation. Although I am not happy that so many details have been left unresolved, at least I feel that I am better prepared for understanding what lies ahead. For that, the authors have my gratitude.

Robert L. Walsh

South Burlington

Sure About Intent?

Colin Flanders’ story [“Wrong Prisoner Is Brought to Court, Derailing a Hearing,” July 8, online] detailed the complications that arose when the wrong inmate, who only spoke Spanish, was brought to a court hearing without an interpreter. The attorney for the expected inmate attributed the mistake to racism, while Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George expressed concern about the implications for people of color. Only after presenting their perspectives did the article reveal that the officers involved only confirmed the inmate’s last name before the transport, despite the procedural requirement to verify both first and last names. The article does not clarify whether the expected inmate spoke English, in which case no interpreter was needed, or what prevented one from being there if they were needed.

The article accurately outlines the challenges faced by Vermont courts and corrections due to understaffing and increased immigration-related work. Nevertheless, the possibility that poor performance and lax oversight might also be a challenge deserves further investigation. Flanders might want to google both Hanlon’s razor and Dannemora.

Carl Wermer

Essex Junction

Time for a New State Hospital

[Re “In a Swift About-Face, Burlington Drops Parking Plan for Homeless,” July 3]: “The City of Burlington does not have the resources or staff capacity to address the need for shelter or services to respond to the crisis of unsheltered homelessness,” according to city official Joe Magee.

And, once again, Burlington, like cities and towns throughout the state, is reiterating its perennial request for more help from the state legislature and Gov. Phil Scott.

According to the Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, our state had 3,458 unhoused people on one census night last year. Of these, 855 had “serious mental illnesses”; another 400 had “substance abuse disorders.” That’s 1,255 people caught in a vicious cycle of unending pain and delusion, stress and despair, exacerbated by potent street drugs, self-destructive behavior and violence.

To date, Vermont has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to house homeless people. The expenditures pay off for people who are down on their luck and need a helping hand.

Such is not the case when dealing with serious mental illnesses and addictions. Health care professionals and social workers concur: You simply cannot place a severely impaired person in a motel room or temporary shelter and expect a good outcome.

Based on mountains of empirical data and the united opinion of medical, legal and law enforcement officials, it is clear that Vermont needs to make a longtime capital investment in opening and professionally staffing a new state hospital. Only there do people caught in a tragic cycle of ruinous behavior and recidivism stand a chance of recovery.

Jack Scully

Colchester

Triage Time

[Re “In a Swift About-Face, Burlington Drops Parking Plan for Homeless,” July 3, online]: Since Gov. Phil Scott’s veto in March, we had a strong indication that the motel program would end on June 30, 2025. So, Sarah Russell and the City of Burlington’s position that offering Perkins Pier parking to former motel residents was an “emergency” plan feels like an excuse for inaction.

She could have been triaging with motel residents for months, making household moving plans for July 1.

It’s more of the quick-fix-first and no-plan-second city policy that doesn’t solve our homelessness or addiction crises.

Steph Holdridge

Burlington

250 Words Yet?

[Re “Burlington Will Allow People to Stay in Cars at Perkins Pier,” July 2]: “Comments are closed.” No encouragement for people to vent, to express themselves freely, even in an alternative weekly. Then there’s a “maximum of 250 words” for letters to the editor. I suppose it doesn’t matter, what with so few people who write anymore anyway. Why encourage anybody to write?! And then there’s the Tories gutting public education and higher learning.

Things just don’t look good anymore, and there’s hardly a one who won’t say the same. At the very least, there’s no sense of hope — not coming from where it should be coming from, anyway! America is definitely coming to a low point, and it didn’t happen overnight! Am I over 250 words yet?

Charlie Stehlin

Whitehall, N.Y.

Editor’s note: Seven Days discontinued online commenting in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. We still get plenty of signed letters to the editor from people of all persuasions and publish them weekly. You can say a lot in 250 words, and most people don’t want to read more than that.

WTF, GlobalFoundries?

[Re “GlobalFoundries Adds Billions to Investment Announced Last Year,” June 5, online]: As a very minor shareholder of GlobalFoundries, I was not happy with the article in which CEO Thomas Caulfield thanks President Donald Trump for his leadership and vision in announcing a $16 billion federal investment, when $13 billion was actually part of president Joe Biden’s 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. Only $3 billion was added by the Trump administration, and the money is not going toward improvements to the Essex Junction factory.

This comes shortly after the Trump administration cut funding that would have turned Burlington into a tech hub in which the University of Vermont, GlobalFoundries and other players would have worked to develop next-generation gallium nitride chips, but I guess that’s not happening anymore [“Burlington Area Selected as Semiconductor ‘Tech Hub,'” October 25, 2023]. Really seems to me that Caulfield is kissing Trump’s ass, and we are getting screwed in the deal.

What GlobalFoundries really is doing is investing in robots that will replace factory workers. The GlobalFoundries statement says “the investment is a strategic response to the explosive growth in artificial intelligence” and that AI is designed to replace humans so the factory can run and money can be made, but it all goes to the shareholders. And who are the biggest shareholders? The CEO, of course, and the board of directors.

So, it kinda pisses me off that reporter Kevin McCallum filled the article with gobbledygook and garbage that obfuscates what’s really going on and making it seem like all this will benefit us. I guarantee it will not.

Melyssa Bailey

St. Albans

‘Any Impact Here Is ‘Undue”

Thanks to Seven Days for covering the battle at Lake Willoughby over the siting of a 153-foot radio tower [“Communication Breakdown: A Proposed Tower Near Scenic Lake Willoughby Riles the Tiny Town of Westmore,” June 25]. I’ve observed friends and neighbors navigate a complex, convoluted “baffle ’em with bullshit” process, with a multiplicity of agencies, commissions, departments, boards, divisions, etc. attempting to dissuade the Public Utility Commission from granting a certificate of public good to Industrial Tower and Wireless, a well-heeled, lawyered-up corporate behemoth that, at best, marginalized and, at worst, denied their testimony.

However, despite the procedure being onerous and lengthy with innumerable hearings, meetings, testimonies and briefs, the outcome has been the finding of one man. That man is Michael Buscher, the sole arbiter of the aesthetic impact of the tower. He is a paid consultant of the Department of Public Service who, according to the evidentiary hearing, had never been to Willoughby before, came here one day and made his declaration. That being: Although the tower would have an “adverse” impact aesthetically, it would not rise to the level of “undue” impact.

“Adverse,” “undue”: semantics, opinions. I, and many others, disrespectfully disagree with that “opinion.” If the impact isn’t “undue” here, where would it be? A National Natural Landmark, the “Lake Lucerne of North America,” a matchless scenic treasure! Any impact here is “undue”!

My family bought property here in 1917. I lived at one time within a few feet of the proposed site. Lived in the area 50 years; have come here for 70-plus. Landscape painter and photographer; nature lover. Please don’t desecrate this magnificent place I love.

James Hudson

Glover

Road Worrier

Thanks for featuring Middlebury in one of your recent issues [True 802: “Middlebury’s Palette,” July 2]. However, it paints an overly rosy picture of the roads down here. While I find the rainbow sidewalks a bit tacky, I’m basically indifferent to the project. But I am a bit frustrated that town officials are patting themselves on the back for spending an extra 28 percent on paint. Meanwhile, roads in Middlebury are some of the worst in the state. That, along with exceptionally high taxes, should be more of a concern than the color of the sidewalks.

Alyth Hescock

Middlebury