Perhaps the only bit of actual comedy is Howard Walls' response in this thread. Very classy. Boy, I bet your courses are just full of facts and wisdom.
@Oleander - So are you really suggesting that we should have preserved the mall?
If you peal it all back, what I want in a Mayor is someone with proven experience managing projects and people. Miro has done an excellent job of breaking down the silos within city government, and brought people together to collaboratively solve problems. I want someone especially who gets the financial piece. We cannot deliver the services we need without continuously working on how to pay for them. I want someone who will defend people in need, and while the far left have done a great job of painting Miro as an out-of-touch elitist, its too far from the truth. From the time with Habitat for Humanity forward, he's understood that housing is a critical piece in addressing these needs, and while "developer" is a dirty word when used with a broad brush, its important to see that Miro's focus as a developer has been on affordable housing - as well as historic preservation. And its this experience that he leveraged to get the maximum benefit out of the mall deal - that included 20% affordable, which I believe is the highest percent of any housing project in the state's history. I also want a Mayor who will preserve our great buildings, and I again trust that Miro's experience in historic preservation speaks to that as well. We are incredibly lucky to have such a knowledgeable, hard working, and effective Mayor who has done so much in 6 short years. The work isn't done. Let's give him another 3 years, at least.
I think Miros opponents only offer these vague idealistic notions because they havent done the hard work to understand the details. And the notion that Miros administraton has lacked transparency and inclusion are fiction. Miro has gone out of his way to provide transparency, such as SeeClickFix app that collects and tracks DPW tasks, and the BTVdata open data system.
And when we say inclusion, what is more inclusive and democratic than ballot initiatives - 17! And voters passed them all.
And if they took the time to really understand how cities work, theyd understand that in order to deliver and expand programs that address affordability or childcare, it requires Miros level of focus and understanding of the financial side. That is the problem that led to the mess he inherited. He and his team worked hard and have turned that completely around, as he pledged he would. We need to see this work through to then allow us to afford these additional things instead of a simplistic tax the rich approach.
Regardless of the merits of Ting, they became associated with the Dems, and as such, had to be opposed at all costs. Pretty sad. Anti-Dems teamed up and pulled out all the stops from jigging the voting process to shameful verbal assault on Joan Shannon as she tried to do her job to vet the 12th hour orchestration last night. They chose to sacrifice BT to avoid allowing Dems to win a fight - that really wasn't theirs in the first place. While Progs selected their choice (before offers were even revealed), Dems as a Party did not choose anyone - it just appeared that way because a majority of Dems chose Ting. So for Anti-Dems, I guess its Party before City. We've seen this in Congress over the past 8 years of Obama, and here we see it in Burlington. Burlington is smart and engaged however. Those tactics are revealed in this environment, and they back fire. Just watch. We will not forget.
Delay & Pray
Re: “Champlain Parkway Opponents Threaten to Derail Burlington Project”
I think we've heard enough from the ANTI Everything Coalition. Its literally the same group of people. They just change their name to fit whatever project is their anti-du-jour.