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by Cassandra Hemenway
republished with permission from The Bridge, a central Vermont community newspaper
Parts of Montpelier’s bike path have become dangerous, according to a planning commission member who started logging incidents from children and adults who say men have sexually harassed, threatened, and chased them while they are trying to walk to school or go for a jog.
Montpelier High School coaches have advised students to stay off the bike path and walk through town instead, according to the school’s athletic director, Matt Link.
The issue has been ongoing, according to police. But it came to the attention of Maria Arsenlis, vice chair of the Planning Commission, as she led a camp group this summer on a trip to the Statehouse. They walked on the bike path and people began to harass them, she said.
“I was on the bike path with a group of first-graders — 7-year-olds. The girls were getting approached, things were being shouted at us,” she told commissioners at their Sept. 23 meeting.
Since then, local kids started opening up to Arsenlis about their experiences on the bike path, she said. There were so many stories that she started keeping a log.
She presented a list of the incidents at the planning commission’s Sept. 23 meeting in which there commissioners did not have a quorum and so they took no action. Arsenlis followed up her Planning Commission conversation with an Oct. 10 email to all six Montpelier City Councilors and Mayor Jack McCullough, in which she noted:
“What I’ve heard and documented are fairly consistent experiences of girls, aged 11–16, being sexually harassed by men gathered on the bike path. In several cases, girls have been followed and pursued. In one case, a group of 12-year-old girls began running from their pursuer, only to be chased, until they got to safety. Girls have been asked how old they are. They have had men follow them making kissing noises. Eleven- and 12-year-olds have been catcalled and hit on by men. Young women have gotten similar treatment, hollered at about ‘your ass.’ In many of these cases, the girls didn’t notify anyone of authority and didn’t tell their parents.
“Children have also encountered drugs left behind on the bike path. In one case, a group of middle schoolers found THC gummies. In another, a family came across what they believed was a spoon with heroin. A 15-year-old boy ran to find police officers after he believed someone was overdosing on the bike path.”
Why the Planning Commission? “I think there are some urban planning solutions that could be put into effect,” she said, including better lighting, increasing nearby traffic, and trimming overgrown and bushy spaces as a starting point.
Ultimately, Arsenlis said she wants the city to create a cross-departmental plan to improve security on the bike path, incorporating urban design and social services.
“If this behavior were happening at the corner of Main Street and State Street, the town would not abide it, that 12-year-olds were getting … harassed by men. The fact that it’s happening out of sight … is why it’s allowed to continue,” Arsenlis said.
Who’s Doing it?
The question of who, exactly, is doing the harassing has not been clear.
Arsenlis maintains that she doesn’t know. The people she interviewed have focused on escaping the situation rather than trying to identify the harassers, she said. The fact that the incidents happen primarily near the transit center, where those who are unsheltered often convene, has sparked speculation about those members of the community. That concerns Meredith Warner, deputy director of Good Samaritan Haven.
At the Sept. 23 Planning Commission meeting, city planning director Mike Miller asked twice if it was “the homeless” responsible for the incidents.
“I don’t know,” Arsenlis replied. “Unless you have a tent nearby, you don’t really know.”
And not-knowing contributes to underreporting the problem, she said, especially among children and teens.
Warner — who also serves as co-chair along with Zack Hughes of the Montpelier Homelessness Task Force — emphasized the risk of allegations that could stigmatize unsheltered people as a group, especially when such information spreads through official channels. In an interview with The Bridge, Warner expressed concern that “vulnerable people who are unsheltered were being accused of something they may not have done.”
In a written statement emailed to The Bridge, Warner said she appreciated Arsenlis advocating for young people, and that “It’s essential that we take their voices and experiences seriously and that our community addresses issues like sexual harassment in public spaces with a focus on safety for everyone — our children and our unsheltered neighbors alike.
“It’s also critical to remember that homelessness itself is not linked to any specific behavior, and generalizations can have unintended consequences that harm individuals and our community as a whole. …,” she said.
Police Reports
The incidents Arsenlis described are not news to Montpelier Police Chief Eric Nordenson.
“They are well known,” Nordenson said, noting that he has directed police to patrol those areas with high complaints. “We are doing the best we can with a situation we didn’t create,” he said.
Nordenson said he has repeatedly asked the city for more outreach and added, “I need more cops.”
He said the department has 13 police officers, including one out on a long-term injury. He said “we’ve been running between 16 and 20 percent of our calls with the unhoused.”
The police department logged 347 such calls from August to October; of those, 10 were welfare checks and 12 were “Threats/Harassment.”
“There are some behaviors (on the bike path) that are unsafe,” Nordenson said. But, he added, “Other people go through there and say there’s no problem.”
In fact, Arsenlis’s husband, David Ory (a member of the Complete Streets Committee), said, “From my own personal experience (on the bike path), I’ve been yelled at a few times but … I haven’t felt particularly threatened by it and I continue to go that way. But we want it to be safe and accessible for everyone.”
The Complete Streets Committee also weighed in on the issue in an Oct. 10 memo to the city council, which states in part, “We encourage the city to seek more enduring solutions, including the development of adequate housing in this area. In the immediate term, we suggest the city recommend these individuals gather elsewhere, specifically at locations that are not adjacent to shared use paths commonly used by children.”
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Categories: Local government, Uncategorized
it seems tome that Montpelier has always emulated Burlington in the way the city is run. Burlington cuts back on policing, Montpelier cuts back on policing. Burlington makes it legal for non citizens to vote, Montpelier makes it legal for non citizens to vote. Burlington does little or nothing to discourage the “unhoused” from pushing the limits of civility by having different expectations for those “unhoused” people, and therefore have issues with them. Montpelier does likewise. It’s like the old truism about definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Montpelier should learn from the floundering experiment in Burlington, instead of blindly following that failing experiment.
When you refuse to name the problem, you will NEVER come up with a real solution. But yah, sacrifice the kids so that we don’t stigmatize the criminals. So progressive. So stunning. So brave. So Vermont.
Dare we find more euphemism for what used to be casually referred to as “bums”? Who hangs out on the hidden parts of the Montpelier bikepath? Is is state workers taking a lunchbreak? Is it city road crew having a smoke? Is it non-profit workers and bookstore owners with nothing better to do? I dare say it is obviously members of the “unhoused/itinerant/vagrant/free range/unsheltered” community, and no one wants to admit that in woke Montpelier. It shouldn’t matter where someone lays their head at night, but let’s be honest, when you have a life with little to do, you find ways to fill the time that are not necessarily wholesome activities. When the city allows public camping nearby, there will be some of those inhabitants who have nothing better to do than get inebriated all day and harass other humans as a way of acting out and publicly celebrating their victimhood, as is the fashion in any overtly left-wing city. The rest of the country has now plotted a path back to normalcy. If Vermont’s more moonbat cities want to continue down the path to leftist self-pity and celebrating victimhood, they are free to do so. When we celebrate and promote drag queen story hour in the public libraries and allow activist teachers to trans middle school kids, having 7-year-old girls being treated as sex objects while using a bike path fits right in and is the polar opposite of MAGA.
Regardless of the status of these perpetrators, it is a straight line to Montpelier residents embrace of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a social construct of their “community”. The residents, by way of their choices of leadership caused this to happen, the same as every other town and city in America that feels the need to “celebrate” such damaging social constructs. As Mr. Lachapelle reminds us, such ideology is the polar opposite of MAGA. It is indicative of dystopian society.
Police Chief’s should not whine. It is unbecoming. This should be of the highest priority for public safety in Montpelier. Insist on it.
Well, obviously it’s the homeless who are responsible and most of them are probably high on this, that, or the other thing. Let’s start with being honest, Ms Arsenlis.
That said, there are a limited number of these “harassers”, so they should be fairly easy to deal with. Key word: Should. But this IS Montpelier, so we wouldn’t want to “marginalize” anyone or “hurt their feelings”, would we?
Sorry, no. This is the real world and this nonsense has to stop. As in Burlington, if the MPD needs more officers to deal with this problem, then hire them! Also just like Burlington, Montpelier is dependent on tourism for much of its income (taxes), and downtown businesses are dependent on tourism for a good chunk of their income. Burlington is already becoming a “no go” for me and many others. Montpelier better smarten up and realize that’s going to be their fate as well. Then bye-bye revenue and bye-bye businesses.
As I said, this is easy to deal with. Run the police through the path every 15 minutes if you have to. Have them “engage” these fine citizens in conversation. Maybe arrest a few if need be. Trust me, they’ll move! And if they move somewhere within the city limits, repeat as above till they leave permanently.
What’s it going to take before the liberal elite act? A rape? a murder? Who’s going to be Montpelier’s Laken Riley? Because given enough time, enough virtue signaling, and not enough attention, it’s going to happen eventually. You know it and I know it.
You’re welcome, Montpelier.
I remember two young girls about age 12, one was murdered, and the other was left to die from knife wounds under a mattress. Two boys aged 16 and 17 were hanging around during the day with nothing to do and were later arrested and tried. People have short memories or wish to ignore the inevitable. Eventually, someone will get hurt or worse. Seems like I heard of a stabbing in Montpelier not too long ago. The revenue stream from tourists will eventually tickle down because this is what happens to woke cities that are run by woke people. and the woke voters who put them in office. Another Vermont city set to follow Burlington as the next progressive cesspool. Another place to drop off the visit list.
This is a good example of a state run economy that produces nothing. A lot of people with nothing to do.
How to solve Vermont’s problems, zoning style of course…
“I think there are some urban planning solutions that could be put into effect,” she said, including better lighting, increasing nearby traffic, and trimming overgrown and bushy spaces as a starting point.”
Well news flash, they don’t seem to care much about the bright lights of Burlington….
Perhaps not putting Vermonters out of housing with the 10k move to Vermont offer, the displaced migrants from other countries, not allowing modest home building and saying we’re ok with drug use, crime and we’ll pay you to live here if you don’t have any money might be better first steps.
It’s all about controlling property and the people, those aren’t the foundation of American values, just saying.
Right on, Rich Lachapelle and Robin Banks. Inviting drag queens to have close contact with and influence on children simply blurs the lines of common sense and right and wrong until the lines are gone. It is hypocrisy to countenance this perversion, but then expect that other perverts won’t try to get close to children.
Is this some of those MAP campers hanging out in an area they know will be frequented by minors?
Montpelier PD must do everything in its power to quell this immediately. It is outrageous. How about some game cameras, video surveillance, an undercover officer, etc. to catch these predators and deal with them swiftly and decisively to let everyone know this behavior will absolutely not be tolerated. The more this is allowed, the more emboldened the criminals will become until, yes, someone’s daughter, granddaughter, sister, or niece is sexually assaulted and/or murdered.
And the answer is not “safe rape,” “safe pedophile,” or “sexual harassment/assault harm reduction sites.” Illegal and immoral behavior is and never will be safe.
“”Why the Planning Commission? “I think there are some urban planning solutions that could be put into effect,” she said, including better lighting, increasing nearby traffic, and trimming overgrown and bushy spaces as a starting point.””
I think sending a large group of REAL men following at a far enough distance to let the harassers start trouble and then beat the living cr@p out of them is a much better “starting point”…just my two cents!
Could it be the policies of the despots are reaping what they sowed? They created it, invited it, condoned anti-social, anti-civil, anti-human behaviors. Now, there is a public safety threat to children and adults alike. Gee, I wonder why? The mental illness is not loitering on the streets, it’s sitting in Council chambers and under the Golden Thunder Dome. Enjoy the creepy, unsettling feeling walking down the street or recreation path. It’s what DEI is all about.
Well, you ladies wanted all this “freedom.” How about not going alone or in groups of girls, but rather take your brother, husband, or father with you… though I imagine they are likely a bit femme, too, and would run away at the first encounter with someone making “kissing noises.”
My commie mother said how wonderful and safe things were in communism. Of course, all the patriotic men were arrested and most of them off’d. Only the govt apparatchik remained. And, like many today here in the West, they went along to get along (ie, don’t wanna lose that job or position!!) so they literally threw others into the oven during WWII and then proceeded to rat out their neighbors during communism.
However, the one thing communism did NOT have was all this “diversity.”
Hey, that ideology might actually work a little bit better if we kept things more culturally homogeneous. No? Not saying diversity is bad. Just saying too much is insane b/c there is literally zero control but extreme tolerance of crime perpetrated by those we coddle. And it begins with how kids are being raised… typically by these very damaged radical females who believe in some crazy concept of liberation equalizing everyone. It doesn’t. No one is equal to anyone. And no amount of rationalizing with children and the infirm will make it happen.
Some still do not see this b/c they’re so indoctrinated.
I will laugh my butt off when I see the new rules for going on any VT bike path in the future: Women Only. Or, Women Only days/hours. Or, bike path closed due to repairs… Or some other BS that doesn’t address the real problem.