by John Bossange
There is a myth out there that the homeless are coming to Burlington from many states because support services are available. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just ask the police. Most of our homeless and drug dependent individuals are home-grown Vermonters who have drifted into town because that’s where they can more easily buy their drugs, beg for food, steal from the many stores, and live in the parks and streets.
The homeless have come from all parts of our state, slowly making their way to Burlington. Are there support services available? Not many, as evidenced by the behaviors of this growing population. Most are struggling to survive, with little hope or desire for meaningful interventions. But the ability to exist as they do is greater in Burlington than it might be in the NEK, in other rural areas, or in our small cities and towns. We know the Fentanyl and Opioid crisis is just as severe in rural Vermont as it is in Burlington, but Burlington has become the go to place for these individuals and in part, Burlington’s Progressive Council members are responsible for this fiasco.
It has been the senseless Progressive Party ideology that has promoted the wrong type of support for this drug dependent population. The “Defund the Police” initiative, proposals to let the homeless camp in Burlington’s parks, alleyways, and other open areas, and to let them exercise their “right” to beg and live on streets are all examples of the misuse of ideology. It’s been their unrealistic proposals, naïveté, and inexperience that have helped to sully the reputation of Burlington. Interestingly, two Progressive City Councilors are not running for re-election.
The bubble world of current Progressives on the Council has not served the city well. For some reason, this group of Progressive Councilors has not understood how public safety is the first expectation of any tax paid by a business or a homeowner. Moderate Progressives from the past who served on the City Council understood that, and worked with Democrats and Republicans, business leaders, and other officials to put the needs of the City ahead of any ideology. Anyone who is old enough to remember Progressive Mayor Bernie Sanders will also recall his close relationship with Tony Pomerleau, and key business leaders in the City. Somehow, that does not seem possible today.
Let’s hope the residents of Burlington elect an experienced leader for Mayor, and candidates with wisdom to occupy the open Council seats. The City needs adults that will take the Council in a direction far and away from the shortsighted Progressive politics seen in the recent years. With a more balanced and experienced City Council, I would expect Governor Scott to be more willing to assist with funding and other support services to take care of our hurting, homeless Vermonters who ended up in Burlington. My guess is that he is waiting to see the results from the March election before he becomes involved in any partnership to help restore Burlington.
Finally, we must remember that if we don’t pay now, we will all pay more later. It’s easy to say: “You made your bed in Burlington, now lay in it,” or “Why should my hard earned tax dollars be sent to a City that is run by Progressive lefties?” Good questions. But with a new Mayor and new City Council members elected in March, we will have a chance to help our own homeless and drug dependent population, address public safety issues with concrete solutions, enlist the help of the Governor, and make Burlington once again a safe and enjoyable place to work, live, and visit.
However, if we get more Progressive politicians like those from the recent past, then the bed Burlingtonians are laying in now will be their bed of the future, and the most important City in Vermont will continue to erode. Make no mistake about it: Everyone in Chittenden County and Vermont will eventually feel that loss.
The author is a retired educator and South Burlington resident and contributor of several recent commentaries, including “State must help Burlington police, house its homeless,” December 11.
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Categories: Burlington, Commentary
When Bernie was the mayor of Burlington, I don’t know if the category of Progressive was even in vogue. What he unabashedly referred to himself as then—and still fully embraces the ideology of today-is Socialist.
Burlington is finished, look at the members of the city council and the candidates for mayor. I was born and live in Burlington and I can’t get out of Burlington/ Vermont soon enough. Pay is low, taxes and housing are ridiculous and it won’t get better because they hate the police and are soft on crime.
People brought in from other states usually live in rented or owned houses or apts. Many register to vote in more than one state.
do you always vote for the person that produces nothing ///bernie sanders and his wife are the biggest con jobs in vermont///the producer of nothing owns three houses///have you had enough///
Even for an aspiring individual with good, strong intentions, why would they try to serve the city of Burlington? It is disgusting, broken and self-serving. It has become our Babylon. Let them lay in their bed. Let it serve as an example as to what happens when so called “progressive” policies rule.
I recently viewed a video of downtown San Francisco, the infamous Van Ness area. The businesses are gone, buildings boarded up, tagged with graffiti, and steel cattle watering troughs used as planters plopped everywhere to discourage squatters. The city spent nearly $300 million to install bus lanes and while the man was filming, no buses seen going through the area. A prime and disheartening example of “progressive” policies taking a once crown jewel city of the West and turning into a wasteland of utter and complete failure. Not the only city to descend into madness, Philadelphia, Chicago, NYC, Baltimore, LA, Portland OR, Seattle, WA, etc. etc. etc.
Cities and towns in Vermont are in the same predicament. They are under the control of liberal freaks of misery and corrupted RINOs. It will get much worse and much darker here and in many places. The marching orders are to bring it all down and destroy and eliminate as many people as possible. It is the globalist agenda. If one has ears to hear and eyes to see, it is clear we are in war against humanity and a once
civil civilization. Days of Haman, indeed.
Not sure where the author gets the idea that most of Burlington’s homeless are from Vermont? Again, Burlington officials and other concerned-but-ignorant individuals are fixated on the idea that providing more free housing is going to remedy the vagrancy problem. When you come up with more free and heavily-subsidized accommodations for those who claim to be unhoused, the word spreads around Vermont AND the surrounding region and twice as many people flock there from elsewhere looking for their free housing. The cost of one putting a roof over one’s head is significant. When that expense is provided or heavily subsidized by government or private charity, that frees up a lot of economic resources for other things that may not be beneficial to one’s self or to society as a whole. When someone has a serious addiction to dangerous street drugs, giving them free housing frees up their money for purchasing those substances, and combining that with the privacy of a hotel room is a death sentence. If an addict is in a communal shelter, at least there is likely to be someone around to notice and intervene medically. The privacy of hotel rooms accounts for a significant count in the overdose death toll.
Communal shelters provide the basic “human right” of having shelter, but the lack of comfort and privacy still provide some incentive to better one’s self.
The big question that needs to be asked: when the US overall suffers from a chronic and acute shortage of affordable housing, why are we letting millions of indigent migrants in to the country?