VDC/Burlington Daily News report
Burlington needs fewer asylum seekers arriving on buses from New York City and more divine intervention.
Those are two of the many perspectives expressed in the ‘man on the street’ (and outside city council chambers) interviews conducted by Burlington Daily News/Vermont Daily Chronicle Social Media Director Paul Bean Tuesday January 16 before, during and after he covered the City Council’s delaying of the police commission oversight charter change.
“I think there’s things coming down the pipe which I’m concerned about. I spoke to someone who said that they had had an interaction with an asylum seeker they said had been bussed up here from New York City,” Todd Deluca told Bean outside the City Council chambers. “I can’t help but wonder if that is going to be a trend that increases. New York City is struggling. They’re overwhelmed with asylum seekers right now, and Burlington is already overwhelmed with homeless people.”
Low-barrier VFW shelter more appealing than Elmwood pods for some homeless – “I asked one homeless person on Church Street what the best shelter in town was, and they told me that it was the [low-barrier former] VFW, because it’s laidback,” Deluca said. “I interpret that to mean you can do drugs without worrying about the cops. I said that surprised me, I thought it would be the Elmwood [Avenue pods] where you get your own place, own pod, but no, that place has too many cops.
“There’s needles everywhere. There’s an ATM on Church Street right over there and it often has needles in it or burned up aluminum foil. And then there’s the camping. So there’s just a general, I would say, lawlessness in Burlington right now.”
Rev. Marcus Szczecinski – highly visible to Burlingtonians as the bearded man carrying the cross giving coffee (“cream and sugar?”) to street people – applauds official Burlington for trying to make life better. But he says the city needs to call on God. He also sees many out-of-state people moving from warmer weather to minister to city residents.
Rev. Szczecinski – think what you will of his message – undeniably has indepth, daily encounters with the city’s large street population.
“The number one issue would be the drugs that are out there,” he said. “Drug related issues tie into everything else. It ties into gun violence, which ties into retail theft.”
As for solutions – “I’ve never seen a politician here in Burlington bring up God. That’s why the Lord has sent me out, to encounter people where they’re at in the name of Jesus. They [city officials] are doing a lot of great things. There’s Social Services, Mental Health Services, the Burlington Police Department has their community workers, they have a couple different tiers of police officers, there’s Burlington Park Rangers.
“They’re all doing a lot of really good things but they leave out God. They can’t name the name of Jesus. That’s what they’re missing.
Bean asks: do you believe that Vermont possibly as a whole has a spiritual problem?
Szczecinski replies: “The good news is that people around the country love the people of Burlington and God loves the people of Burlington and and what I’ve seen multiple times is that the Lord is sending people from out of state here in the name of Jesus.”
The interviews continue with two people fighting to stay housed and sober.