|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Aimed at homelessness, illicit drug use
By Michael Bielawski
The City of Brattleboro will be having the first reading of some new local ordinances tonight aimed “to establish boundaries on acceptable community conduct.” It’s being called the “Acceptable Community Conduct Ordinance” and is the last item under new business for 6:50 Tuesday evening at the Brattleboro Select Board meeting.
Meanwhile, the town has been mentioned both on social media and in statehouse testimony as a problem spot for illicit drug activities and issues with homelessness.
The first draft states that town representatives should have the power, “to issue a municipal ticket and/or notice of trespass and enforce that notice against an individual whose conduct is harmful, dangerous, illegal, or unreasonably disruptive, while recognizing the rights of individuals to engage in constitutionally protected activities on public or Town-owned property at certain times, in certain places, and in certain manners.”
The city has a homeless shelter called Groundworks Collaborative with 34 beds. As of January of this year, VtDigger had reported that they were at capacity each night with about five more on a waitlist. It’s not clear what the shelter’s current situation is.
The draft language calls for an end to “unacceptable conduct” and a “notorious atmosphere”. In all it states, “Further, this section empowers the Town to police properties that have become a public nuisance by exhibiting a notorious atmosphere of criminal and other unacceptable conduct so elevated as to endanger the common public health, safety, or welfare of a specific neighborhood or the Town in general.”
Among the definitions section, it defines “Boundaries on Behavior” to mean “limitations on a person’s conduct such that the conduct is respectful, not intimidating, not threatening, not excessively loud or disturbing and which prohibit the activities described in Section 13-420.”
The 2023 April Police Chief’s Report indicates that there were – in that month – 35 Assaultive Crimes, 40 property crimes, 4 drug-related crimes, 5 death investigations, and 28 mental health-related incidents. That’s the most recent police report available on the town’s website.
On social media, there was a post on X by @DecrimVermont in January of 2024 which indicated that illicit drug activity is present. It states, “Representing the support of the #vt House Ways and Means committee for #overdosepreventioncenters Rep. Kornheiser says how painful it has been to witness the deaths of neighbors she watched grow up in Brattleboro. ‘We can’t go on like this.’ #vtpoli #vtleg”.
Another section of the draft gives examples of what kind of rules will see new enforcement. It states, “For example, the number of prohibited behaviors has expanded to include activities such as possessing drug paraphernalia, smoking or vaping any substance of any kind, interfering with free passage of people on a sidewalk, solicitation for private benefit in certain areas, and leaving personal belongings unattended.”
It states that not all public spaces will be acceptable but they will “now include some areas of sidewalks and public roads” as OK for these actions.
The text also defines what will constitute a “nuisance property”. It states, “The Brattleboro Police Department has been dispatched or caused to respond to the property four (4) or more times within the preceding twelve (12) month period for any incident involving a criminal offense including but not limited to disturbing the peace, trespassing, assault, noise disturbance, disorderly conduct, harassment, citizen dispute, threatening behavior, intoxicated person, and drug-related activity.”
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Local government, Uncategorized
The Brattleboro Town ordinances ought to include the next property they seize for failure to pay taxes and make those into spaces for these people. They ought to write ordinances for the creation of small farms where these people can be brought for residency and skill training, not to mention emotional healing. They will eat after doing some chores, and become rightful residents of that land in perpetuity, and when one piece of land is fully and functioning harmoniously in occupation by formerly homeless persons (made homeless by the poor execution of governance in its lack of foresight, wisdom, or morality, not to mention lack of adherence to the oath to the Constitution), the ordinance can put another piece of property to that use. Moe local food will result.
Those “farms” you speak of were once common in VT they were operated by the town or city and they were just as you say a place where people who were homeless for whatever reason could work and have a roof over their head and food in their gut. That was done away with by President Johnson in the 60’s with his “Great Society” It took control of welfare away from local governments and gave it to the federal government. There were still rules that had to followed such as sobriety I barely remember them were they perfect? I doubt it but it has to be better than how they live now.
What is the difference between a poor farm, a labor camp, a plantation, or a prison farm? A place where unfortunates can remain in servitude for the privledge of something to eat or a place to sleep if their owners/handlers think it is deserved? A re-education camp perhaps?
No man has dominion over another. Yet, here we are in a world where a select few hold fake power and control over billions of souls. Here we are in a country that was once a free, educated, civil society, but was swapped out 100+ years ago to be incorporated and owned by foreigners and financiers. Big Brother will write the rules of conduct? The same Big Brother who’s collective conduct is malevolent and wrote the rules that has brought our country and State into collapse?
Time to remove the rose colored glasses. 1984 is no longer a fictional novel, it is the playbook of globalist despots. There needs to be a top to bottom turn from wickedness, millions dropping to their knees and begging for mercy…until then, watch as society continues to delve into something no one has ever experienced on this timeline.
Interesting comment
“The Brattleboro Town ordinances ought to include the next property they seize for failure to pay taxes”
This makes more homeless. VT taxes property and people to almost extinguishing status, result in many homeless. They are diehards that don’t want to leave VT. San Fran is loaded with homeless. There are many Vets homeless and 20 Vets commit suicide a day because of the VA and gov agencies.
The above partial comment doesn’t face the reality of homeless. True there are bad apples and many good apples. Biden’s policies have made matters worse, look at what he did overall. Look at the taxes raised by the Montpelier elite, 15% property tax increase, taxes on home heating fuel oils. The only thing they haven’t taxed are the dead in cemeteries, but they will. Look at the illegals being housed in motels, and displaced residents. Taxes in VT are the problem, not the homeless.
Not having money for taxes can be the result of: a serious illness, low pay job (can’t keep up with inflation), an accident, increase in taxes, reduced transportation costs, etc. Note in Alabama if over 65, no property taxes. Therefore the town and state won’t confiscate property. VT Property taxes transfers property ownership from individuals to the town and state, hence tax sales. I know, I own VT property.
So much for LIFE, LIBERTY, PROPERTY, HAPPINESS: Ref:
The phrase gives three examples of the unalienable rights which the Declaration says have been given to all humans by their Creator, and which governments are created to protect.
Governments are created to protect, not confiscate or rule over. Brattleboro gov simpletons are aloof of real problems affecting people.
To Emily Peyton, are you going to establish all the features you expound on? I do agree that areas should be established to house many real unfortunate people with appropriate services and education. However it has to be self supporting. The other negative aspect is the illegal crime. They need to be dealt with harshly.
If Vt was more anti-tax mentality, people would prosper more so. This matter is an indication of failed government.
I see healthy, fairly well-dressed young men begging for money regularly. These bleeding-heart liberals are suckers. The liberals who give them money while they’re begging feel god about themselves for a minute and that enables the beggars to continue. The state government has created an institutional bureaucracy of homeless caretakers with our money, not theirs. The more that come, the bigger their agency gets, the more tax money they confiscate from the working class. It’s a never-ending problem specifically designed to support the government and not the beggars. Tough love is one cure. The other cure is to vote these bloodsucking, money confiscators out of office.
And then you also have the hotels and motels who just love having a full house of transient layabouts and riff raff in their rooms while getting checks from the state ho confiscated it from the taxpayers. The state needs a prison and a major mental health facility, but instead they will kick the can down the road, waste money on the perpetual problem and continue to be an attraction for more riff raff, drug dealers and layabouts from other states and the working citizens be damned. Hopefully, signs are emerging that that people may be getting sick of the stupid majority of progressives that are ruining Vermont with each and every progressive policy failure that they strap us with. You get what you vote for!
Acceptable community conduct. Interesting. So is it the community that’s causing all the problems, or is it individuals?
You can’t fix the problem with “ordinances”. You must disqualify criminals and drug users from free stuff and subsidies that working people pay for.
It’s funny, they create the problems but instead of stopping the creating of the problems, they come up with a bunch of costly non-solutions.
Time: Time area is open to the public
Place: Place area is open to the pubic
Manner: “Expressive” manner is allowed everywhere but in places intended to be used to provide a specific service.
If they try to stop “pan handling” through ordinances, they will be sued. They must sell the property to private industry to have that ability.
Make littering and improper disposal of medical sharps a 10 year minimum prison sentence and have a $5000 bounty for information leading to the arrest of offenders.
“Acceptable” is one of those legally squishy words like “reasonable” that create job security for attorneys and social services advocacies. As far as defining “nuisance properties”, it has more to do with the tenants and not the landlords. Landlord would love to use more discretion about whom they rent to but are prohibited from using common sense criteria like criminal backgrounds and prior history…
I watched as Brattleboro began its slow decline around 20 years ago. When we vote for social activists instead of civic minded business and community leaders this is the result. Burlington has been on a downward spiral for nearly 40 years thanks to boornie mittens sanders bringing his social justice to Vermont.
I’m sure all of the criminals are going to the reading of the new “Acceptable Community Conduct Ordinance” and comply with the new laws just like they are complying with all the gun control laws enacted by the Commiecrat legislature in Montpelier. I think they better start thinking about hiring a few more law enforcement officers to arrest the criminals they are creating and building some new prisons to put them in.
“The enemy is already here” – Dan Bongino
And it’s the Communist Progressives governing us.