Bad Words?

It’s tempting to agree with letter writer Nick McDougal and his denunciation of Seven Days’ use of the word “fuck” in its columns [Feedback: “Oh, F*ck,” January 7]. But I’m going to resist that temptation, even though part of me thinks that some words should be saved for special occasions.

It’s the same with “sucks,” whose strong negative connotations prompt me to ask, why disparage something all day that you might want to happen in the evening?

It appears that “fuck” will soon match “damn” in ubiquity, and frankly, my dear, I don’t give either one.

The New Yorker was an early entrant to spelling it out. Several years ago, it quoted the now late actor Charles Grodin as asking, “Who do you have to fuck to get off this tour?”

I posted a tweet saying this was “gratuitous bad language. He should have said ‘whom.’”

‘Best Physician’ Ever

I am not at all surprised that Dr. Waqar Waheed is involved with this remarkable project [“Medicine With a Mission: Health Care Is Free and Accessible at a New South Burlington Clinic,” January 14]. As one of his patients, I have direct experience with his incredible warmth and compassion. He is, without a doubt, the best physician I have ever experienced. His thoroughness and knowledge, combined with his deep humanity, make him a true gift to our community.

Rep Is Misguided

Vermont faces an affordability crisis and recently ranked last in economic momentum, but fear not, constituents: Rep. Troy Headrick is proposing a UFO panel [“Vermont Lawmaker Proposes Establishing a UFO Panel,” January 13, online]! What a fantastic way to use public funds and resources instead of the housing crisis, lower taxes, better employment opportunities or crumbling infrastructure.

Unless this is Seven Days’ way of pointing out just how laughable our representation has become, please don’t pander to such idiocy. Rep. Headrick is cutting the grass while the house burns down, and the people of Burlington deserve better than someone looking to play “X-Files.”

A Matter of Balance

Colin Flanders’ article about the governor’s nomination of two prosecutors to the Vermont Supreme Court was excellent [“Scott Appoints Veteran Prosecutors to Vermont Supreme Court,” January 5, online]. It might be noted that traditionally nominees have often been defense attorneys for balance. The theory is that ideally some justices have a demonstrated sense of mercy and human rights. In a perfect world, do we want the Vermont Supreme Court to be entirely composed of judges whose motto is, “We always get our man”? Do we want them growling at plaintiffs, “Just the facts, ma’am”?

I served on a jury in Chittenden County under a judge who was a former defense attorney, and he demonstrated compassion for both defendants and victims of crime. He wasn’t seeking to nail a trophy to the wall.

Woe Is Burlington

Burlington is demanding help from the state to clean up its mess [“To the Rescue? Gov. Phil Scott’s Public Safety Proposals for Burlington Have Potential to Help, City Officials Say,” October 29]. What has gone wrong? Too many bad decisions by local government and from the far left. I see too many new people just trying to prove that Vermont is different and far ahead of everyone else. This is not the Vermont way.

I remember when Burlington jumped on the bandwagon with a knee-jerk reaction to George Floyd’s death and got rid of half its police force. I have read that Burlington is proposing a place where drug addicts can shoot up safely. Are you mad? We need to help these people get off drugs, not perpetuate the problem! The drug increase was inevitable once Amtrak opened the track from Rutland to Burlington.

You claim that out-of-towners don’t come to Church Street anymore because of the construction. No, it’s because of the plethora of homeless people who have flooded the state from out of state and the continual drug problems, which are not unusual in any city now. I have friends who will no longer go downtown. We all want to support local businesses, but not at the expense of our own safety.

I am more than happy to help my fellow Vermonters. But at the risk of sounding totally unempathetic, I’m not interested nor able to support all the people who have moved here for the seemingly open social services. People should have to prove that they have been living here for a set period of time and not expect to be housed and fed at others’ expense.

Cities have their ups and downs, but it’s a true pity that Burlington has sunk so low. I miss it.

Legislature Should Prioritize Health Care

[Re “Working Capitol: In a Tight Budget Year, State Lawmakers Plan to Tackle Education Reform and Health Care Costs,” January 7]: Vermont’s health care premiums are now the highest in the country — nearly $16,000 a year for a basic silver plan. That’s not just bad policy. It’s a barrier to staying, living and thriving here.

The Public Assets Institute’s State of Working Vermont 2025 report lays it out clearly. If we want to build an abundant future — one that welcomes 200,000 new working-age residents — we need to stop pricing people out of care.

Reference-based pricing is a proven way to rein in costs. It pegs payments to fair benchmarks like Medicare instead of letting hospitals and insurers set prices in a black box.

But Vermont’s reforms are crawling. Why? Because we haven’t made it a priority.

It’s time for legislators to step up. Fund the transition for full statewide implementation by 2027. Make affordability a core value, not a buzzword.

People vote with their feet. If we want them to choose Vermont, we need to choose them first.

Parking Problem?

The project designs in [“Burlington Councilors Get Glimpse of Memorial Block Redesign,” December 15, online] were really exciting to see — our community needs housing desperately, and there’s no better place (for climate, transportation, housing and economic vitality goals) to put it than on surface parking lots, of which there are many in the downtown core. The project is massive — and with a budget gap of 15 percent, I think the developers and city council should put serious thought into the option of removing two levels of underground parking and bridging a third of that gap. Not only do we have multiple private and public lots very close to this location, our downtown is also walkable, bikeable and has the best transit access in the state. Our community recently removed parking minimums to ease the excessive burden of parking on project budgets, so let’s put that into practice and build something that isn’t narrowly constrained by our current car dependence but is something that is ready for our future of car independence.

More Handicapped Spots

[Re Feedback: “Prioritize People, Not Cars,” January 14]: The letter writer speaks only for the able-bodied, young and aging, when advocating for the elimination of parking minimums. In two trips downtown, a three-block walk exhausted me and turned treacherous for anyone using a cane on the slick, slippery bricks.

There are already too few handicapped parking spaces downtown and no real alternative. I urge the council to reserve more for anyone with recognized mobility challenges. If you don’t, you’ll be writing off our option to buy local and support Vermont businesses instead of buying online from megacorps.

The choice is not “people, not cars.” It’s which people, period.

Pulitzer Prize-Worthy

Keith Knight’s cartoon “re-Public-an Transit Map” [January 7] should be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize!

Sisterly Love

What a touching and full tribute to our Sister Sankofa, also known as Shanda Williams [“Life Story: Sister Sankofa, aka Shanda Williams, ‘Was a Force,’” December 24]. Having been her friend and neighbor, as well as an ally in her work with the “Money Matters” conference series, I thought I knew her well but learned about other projects in your piece.

While she was on many boards, the board at An Economy of Our Own and I want to credit her invaluable work with us and the friendships that developed in our common cause. We’d love to share and draw readers’ attention to a great “Zoom of Our Own” educational conversation she took part in. It’s posted on our website: “Overcoming Financial Trauma: What’s Systemic? What’s Personal? What Helps?”

Sister Sankofa, aka Shanda, thus continues to be a friend and support on the subject of money and overcoming racial and gendered injustice. Thank you again from the steering committee of An Economy of Our Own: Rickey Gard Diamond, Carmen Rios, Marybeth Gardam and Katonya Hart.

‘Agreement Is Possible’

[Re “Farm Porch Politics: An Essay on Pleasantries, Plurality and a Path Forward,” January 7]: Thank you, Lucas Farrell, for a thoughtful story that shares how pleasantries matter and neighbors can be neighborly no matter what their political perspectives are. If only we could get our legislators to meet on a big front porch and exchange pleasantries before striving to reach common ground. Such as: Create five cooperative education service regions and draw three maps of district consolidation possibilities. Learn to listen to each other, not overrule each other; compromise. Farrell’s porch gatherings remind me of Burlington’s Braver Angels [“Green Mountain ‘Angels’: Vermonters From Both Sides of the Political Aisle Are Fostering Respectful Conversations About the Issues,” July 23, 2025].

How I see things: Democrats hate Republicans because of President Donald Trump and believe taxing the über rich will support big government and pay off the deficit. Recently, they defended federal health care funding as critically important.* Embroidered around the edges is support of publicly funded abortion, legalizing marijuana (even though it no longer offers the same gentle high as in the past because of plant husbandry and GMOs), DEI, and Palestinians who want to eliminate Israel.

The Republicans in Vermont favor lower taxes, DEI that is fair (and not prejudiced against white men and conservative Christians, Jews and Muslims), change in federal immigration policy (but not the way it’s happening now; just remove the criminals that shouldn’t have been allowed here in the first place), making government more efficient and less wasteful, and federal funding for health care insurance, especially Medicaid support for elderly people who can’t work and have no way to pay for care in a nursing home without it.*

The * means agreement is possible.

Outdoor Advantage

Great, thoughtful writing [“Farm Porch Politics: An Essay on Pleasantries, Plurality and a Path Forward,” January 7]. An added factor for the front porch element, which may create a different dynamic, is that all porches are oriented toward the outdoors. Just gotta think that the outdoors element could be important in creating an open, welcoming space for conversation.

Renewable v. Carbon Neutral

A renewable energy source such as wood is not carbon neutral. In November, Seven Days published a report on a study done by the Velerity company on behalf of the Burlington Electric Department [“Report IDs Options to Reduce McNeil Emissions,” November 28, online]. The goal of the study was to investigate ways of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the McNeil Generating Station with the boundary condition that only ways could be investigated that would maintain Burlington’s 100 percent renewable energy designation. The report — and, in fact, the very commission of the report — highlight a fact of great interest to the citizens of Burlington: Its focus is on renewability rather than carbon neutrality, or net-zero.

“Renewable” means that the energy source can be renewed, by the regrowth of trees in the case of McNeil. “Carbon neutrality,” on the other hand, means that Burlington takes as much carbon out of the atmosphere as it emits, in the case of McNeil burning wood. A renewable energy source can be carbon neutral, but it need not be, as McNeil amply demonstrates: It emits copious amounts of greenhouse gases that are not re-sequestered by regrowing trees until a long time after all wood burning has ceased.

The commission of this study demonstrates that even the Burlington Electric Department does not believe that burning wood to generate energy is carbon neutral and, therefore, that despite its claims to the contrary, it is fully well aware that net-zero and McNeil in its present form are incompatible.

Correction

Last week’s story headlined “Manage Your Care” failed to note that Alex John founded Vermont Diagnostic Imaging with several local partners. They are Susan Ridzon, Dr. Anthony Conti, Dr. Cory Halliburton and Dr. David Weissgold.

This article appears in January 21 • 2026.

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