Many neighbors have been reaching out to me, the City Council, and the Mayor with concerns about public safety. On Sunday, Mayor Weinberger and I went door knocking in a neighborhood hard hit, repeatedly, by tire slashings. One neighbor has had their tires slashed 6 times. The impact of these type of crimes on neighbors is heartbreaking. We (Mayor and your councilors) are continuing to work on identifying funds and/or services that would better support victims. In addition, we are working on rebuilding our police department with more armed officers, more unarmed officers, and more social workers that would all be working together to provide reenvisioned public safety. There are job openings in all these positions and we ask for your assistance in recruiting applicants. All City job openings can be found here: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/burlingtonvt?keywords=

On Wednesday October 19 at 4 pm on the Second Floor of the Firehouse Gallery on Church St. the Parks Arts and Culture Committee of the City Council will be having a meeting focused solely on public safety in our parks. We have heard from residents about safety issues in Callahan Park, Smalley Park, Oakledge Park, and others. We will hear from our Parks Staff in the beginning of the meeting to learn more about their experience and efforts in our parks this year. We will also be having a discussion about cameras in the parks and whether or not this might be helpful both in damping down inappropriate/illegal behavior, and identifying those who are acting in ways that threaten others.

There will be a public forum at the meeting after hearing from City staff. We would love to hear your ideas about how we can improve public safety in the parks. Please consider joining us for this important discussion.

Here's a link to the agenda: https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/sites/default/files/Agendas/PACC%20meeting%20-%2010-19-2022%20A[...]pdf

If you can't make the meeting please consider sending us your ideas via email. Here are the emails for Committee Members and staff:
Joan Shannon (Chair) Jshannon@burlingtonvt.gov
Mark Barlow (Member) mbarlow@burlingtonvt.gov
Ali Dieng (Member) adieng@burlingtonvt.gov
Holli Bushnell (Staff) hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov

Event Info

Jul 2, 2024, 3 to 6 PM

Jul 3, 2024, 6 to 10 PM

Jul 5, 2024, 10 AM to 4 PM