BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Burlington’s ongoing struggle with homelessness, addiction and public safety is back in the spotlight after a pair of local business owners published an open letter Wednesday calling on city officials to act.
The letter — published on social media by Ready Funeral Home and Archives Bar owner Michele Ambrosino — describes arranging a funeral for a local teen who died and having to account for public safety during the service.
It reads, in part: “Compassion and accountability are not competing values. They are partners. We absolutely need housing, treatment, behavioral health services, and regional cooperation. But we also need laws that are enforced and public spaces that belong to everyone — not just to those willing to ignore them.”
For years, Burlington’s downtown has struggled with homelessness, mental health issues, open drug use and a feeling of unease. Burlington was also profiled this week in a national piece in The Atlantic documenting the community’s struggles.
“Right now we’re under this false impression we have to choose between compassion and accountability or prevention and enforcement. The reality is that strong communities need all of those,” said Shabnam Nolan, who used to work at the ACLU but now runs the King Street Center, which supports low-income children and their families through a variety of programs.
On Monday, the Burlington City Council will debate a resolution aimed at improving public safety, accountability, and more regional and state help. It is a proposal Progressive Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak has criticized. It comes as Gov. Scott this week unilaterally deployed the Vermont State Police to patrol the downtown area.
Some locals like Ed Baker bristle against the idea that more enforcement is the answer. He says delivering harm reduction services like the clean needle exchange and a proposed overdose prevention center are necessary public health interventions. He says it takes time to get people the help they need. “The people we’re speaking about that are difficult to engage are the most wounded, and we have to develop ways to engage them, not ways to isolate them; not to abandon them, ways to engage them,” Baker said.
Reporter Calvin Cutler: What would you say to folks who say harm reduction services and what we’re doing now isn’t compassionate and isn’t getting people the help they need?
Ed Baker: I would say what we’re doing now isn’t enough. We need to do more.
Nolan, at the King Street Center, says public safety needs to begin with prevention and making sure children in the community are protected.
In a statement late Thursday, the mayor said Democratic council members have not agreed to meet with her to discuss their resolution, and she urged them to delay introducing the measure at Monday’s meeting. “This has been a very troubling process because any substantive proposals for community safety should be made in close communication and partnership with the Mayor and the City departments that are actively engaged in implementing the City’s community safety framework,” she said.
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