by Emma Mulvaney-Stanak
Last night, City Council passed an important, bipartisan resolution focused on community health and safety. The resolution identifies ways the State can take immediate, stronger action to support Burlington on homelessness, substance use, and mental health – requests that I will bring to the Governor in the coming weeks.
First, I’d like to thank our Councilors for working with my administration and for collaborating across party lines to support this resolution. This is a moment for leadership, not politics, and we are demonstrating that we can lead our City forward, together. I believe that is what our residents most want to see in this moment.
The contents of the resolution build on work my administration has engaged in over the past two years to make Burlington a healthier, safer, and more inclusive place for everyone – which has always been my top priority as Mayor.
The urgent crisis we are seeing in our streets and shared public spaces is what a historic, statewide emergency looks like – one that has been years, if not decades, in the making. Our challenges are deep-rooted and shared by many Vermont towns and cities. They are impossible to solve as one municipality.
While my administration expands our community safety toolbox and continues to innovate our local response, we are also identifying our most urgent gaps and some of the policies, systems changes, and resources we need to fill them. This work reflects extensive engagement with our first responders, community partners, City staff, City Councilors and other elected officials, Burlington residents, and the business community. I’m encouraged by these collaborations and proud of the advocacy they have facilitated.
Last fall, my administration met with the Governor to bring specific recommendations and asks to the table. That meeting led to the 14-Point Plan that the State enacted over a three-month period last winter.
The most impactful piece of that plan was the Chittenden County Accountability Docket, which resolved 78% of the cases on the docket, reducing the significant court backlog and freeing up our legal system to better do the work of accountability. This was huge for our region.
This work was a start, and there is much more the Governor and Burlington can do together – especially on the topic of homelessness. While I repeatedly advocated that homelessness be a piece of the 14-Point Plan, it was ultimately not included. I appreciate City Councilors consistently joining me in that call last fall and repeatedly over the last two-plus years.
In this next round of engagement with the Governor, I plan to push again for urgent State action on homelessness. As outlined in last night’s resolution, this will include asking the State to proactively assist in CVOEO’s effort to launch a new 100-bed, year-round, low-barrier, emergency shelter in Chittenden County, among other things.
This shelter would make an immediate impact on the situation we are seeing escalate in our streets and public spaces, and we ideally want it operational by this winter. The State could undoubtedly help make this happen.
Another priority I wanted included in our requests for State support is strengthening youth violence prevention and interruption efforts in response to concerning levels of youth-involved violence and disorderly behavior in our community. We have made some progress on this, including through greater use of Trusted Community Voices in City engagement efforts and work with REIB and HR to diversify our workforce, but much more is needed to strengthen trust, communication, and engagement with affected communities, including our New American neighbors.
I look forward to working with the Governor on this and other specific ideas as outlined in last night’s resolution. My team is currently working with his office to set up a meeting in the coming weeks.
While we urgently need more action from the State, I also want to recognize the incredible efforts of our City – which are collectively making progress, Thank you to our City staff, Police and Fire Departments, many community partners, businesses, and residents who continue to show up and support our community under such challenging conditions. This important work would not be possible without you.
In appreciation,
