Another week, another Wednesday, another Seven Days. Here’s this week’s lineup of news and politics stories:
- In response to employment-status changes that could strip them of some benefits, several Sodexo food-service workers at local colleges are considering a union drive.
- Norman Stevens is the first Vermonter sentenced to life without parole for a crime that wasn’t murder. Twelve years later, he’s appealing to the Vermont Supreme Court.
- AT&T has plans for new “stealthy” cell towers in Richmond. Nearby residents say the way telecoms are allowed to skirt town planners is also stealthy.
- One way Vermonters can help the Philippines after Super Typhoon Haiyan: crisis mapping, an act of crowdsourced digital cartography to help relief workers on the ground.
- In this week’s cover story, big changes are afoot for JDK Design, the influential creative firm that’s called Burlington home for years.
- And in Fair Game: Too soon? Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger is already collecting cash for a potential reelection bid, and some of his top donors are real-estate developers with eyes on projects in the city.
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Fair Game indeed, I totally get what Paul Heintz is saying, but face it, the facts show that Burlington is a no growth, NIMBY enclave where you can’t put up a bird feeder without incurring the wrath of the zoning office. Planning and Zoning does not answer to the Mayor but to the various citizen boards (below). The idea that developers are running the show is laughable. What developers will tell you (off the record!) is that they are at the mercy of the arbitrary decision making and often confusing agendas of layers of commissions and boards.
The very best thing Mayor Weinberger and the City Council could do for Burlington is to bring planning and Zoning under the direct control of the Mayor, who would have accountability to the voters.
From the City Website:
The Department of Planning and Zoning’s work is guided by a 7-member Planning Commission appointed by the City Council. It is their responsibility to formulate land use and development policy and regulations for consideration by the City Council.
Another 25 citizen volunteers participate in the development review and permitting process as members of the Development Review Board, Design Advisory Board and Conservation Board, playing key roles in implementing the City’s land use and development regulations. Members of each of the boards are also appointed to their positions by the City Council.
http://www.burlingtonvt.gov/PZ…